Consume Me Like A Fire
by HbisYellow
Summary: When a serial killer strikes a university near Quantico, the BAU steps up to take the case. The last thing on Spencer's mind was to get close to one of the students there. Why are these killings happening, and why does death seem to follow Shiloh? ReidxOC
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is the prologue for my Spencer Reid story. I'm starting to transfer all my stories over to here from Mibba. Slowly I'll be uploading the chapters to see what you all think of it. Be sure to leave some reviews so I know! I'm updating a few things as I republish it!

 **Prologue**

The smell of death and blood filled the senior police officer's nose. Officer Roy McDaniel looked down at the body of the young girl in front of him and grimaced in disgust. How can someone be so sick as to take an innocent life? Turning away from the scene, he looked to a young officer.

"Tolley, come here." Jason Tolley jogged over to the officer and waited for further instructions.

"What do we have so far?" Roy asked, walking out of the room while taking a cigarette out of his pack. He needed a smoke to calm his nerves… The strong smell of tobacco clung to his navy jacket; the smoke slowly rising into the early morning sky.

"The victim's name is Melissa Taylors. The coroner is suggesting that she was killed between 3 and 6 this morning. She died from blood loss and the fact that her heart was literally cut out of her chest. It's nowhere to be found as of now, but we have officers searching the room and surrounding areas. The girl dorm's director found her this morning at 8 when she didn't show up at her early morning lecture, and one of her classmates called concerned," Jason finished. Roy sighed and lit up his cancer stick as soon as they were outside the building. The strong smell of tobacco clung to his navy jacket; the smoke slowly rising into the early morning sky.

Students were in class now, and a few were running around trying not to be late. Roy took in a deep inhale and released it slowly. Jason stood by him silently, not knowing what else to say. He was still new to the force and this was his first murder case to work on. He was giddy with excitement, but tried to hold it back. He could tell Roy was in the mood to take someone's head off.

"We need to get the victim's information; her classes, social groups, meeting places, etc." Roy grumbled rubbing his temples. He finished his smoke and stomped out the bud before standing up straight. It was only the beginning of a long day.

 _BZZZZZZZT_

"McDaniel here," he answered into his radio.

 _"This is Turner. Boss we might have another problem…"_ The voice on the other end replied. Jason waited with his senior officer mainly because he wanted to hear more.

"What is it this time?" Roy asked getting frustrated. He and Jason stopped their trek through campus and waited for the reply.

 _"Two more bodies were found in their rooms. They appear to have been killed the same way as our first victim was."_

"Well shit… This is my lucky day. Thanks Turner, I'll be there soon," he said releasing the button on the walkie talkie. He looked at Jason again and nodded towards his phone.

"This isn't just a murder anymore. It's the beginning of a serial killing… Call the FBI, we're gonna need the help of that special unit of theirs. This campus is too big for us to search everyone, and it looks like the killer is moving fast. The suits should be here in a few minutes considering how close we are to them," he grumbled and began to walk away. Jason fumbled with his phone before calling like he had been told. In a matter of minutes, they saw two big black SUVs arrive and out stepped the BAU division of the FBI.

A/N: The actual chapters will be longer!


	2. Chapter 2

**"** **Murderers, in general, are people who are consistent, people who are obsessed with one idea and nothing else** **" –** **Ugo Betti**

Shiloh glanced down at her watch before she picked up her pace and started running across campus. Her lunch date with her roommate ran late and she had a report due in her afternoon class. The last thing she needed was to be locked out and end up getting a zero on her paper. Being an active runner had its benefits because she only had two more minutes so she had to sprint.

As she rounded the corner, she ran smack dab into someone else and almost flew backwards. Luckily, that someone else was fast enough to keep their balance and grab her to make sure she kept hers too. Shiloh looked up embarrassed and met the face of a very attractive black guy. She quickly noticed the hand gun attached to his hip and straightened herself out.

"I'm so sorry. I'm late for a class and my report is due…" she mumbled pathetically. Looking back down at her watch, she saw it was past 2 and the doors to her class were now locked. She groaned and took a deep breath trying to catch her breath.

"Doesn't matter anymore though," she added. The man raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"I'm Special Agent Derek Morgan with the FBI," he said holding his hand out. Shiloh's eyes almost bugged out and she slowly took his hand to shake it.

"Shiloh Montgomery… Can I ask why the FBI is here?"

"Actually, it's good that you're here. I need to ask some students around here a few questions. Do you know who Melissa Taylors is?" Derek asked. Shiloh winced when she thought about Melissa. They used to be best friends and roommates their freshman year in college. The two were practically attached at the hip, but Melissa began to change. She skipped classes and went out to drink, party, and get high. Shiloh didn't want to get involved with those things and broke their friendship off. Melissa became a royal bitch to everyone and was known as the campus slut.

"Uh yeah. We were roommates two years ago during our freshman year. We were pretty close too, but we stopped being friends earlier this year. She has a bad reputation and I just want to focus on my studies. Why?" she asked crossing her arms, relaxing.

"I'm sorry to say, but her body was found this morning. She was killed in her dorm around 5 o'clock this morning." Shiloh stifled her gasp and covered her mouth feeling sick.

"Would you like to sit down?" Derek asked. Shiloh nodded and he led her over to a bench and the two sat down. The blonde haired girl brought her knees up and wrapped her arms around them feeling upset and uncomfortable.

"We were best friends… Were… she changed and she wasn't the same Melissa anymore, but I still loved her like my friend even if we didn't talk anymore," Shiloh whispered, feeling her eyes well up with unshed tears. Derek rested a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't want to ask, but we need to know. Did Melissa have any enemies around here?" Shiloh wiped under her eyes and gave a quiet snort.

"Almost every girl hated her. She was known as the campus slut because she stole boyfriends and slept around with taken guys. Girls threatened her every day, but I never thought any of them were true… Wait why is the FBI here if only one person was killed? Shouldn't the police be here?" Shiloh looked up at Derek with confusion.

"That's the next part. Do you know Clare Jackson or Olivia Ewing?"

"They are Melissa's best friends now. The three are always together," she answered feeling uneasy again. She had a gut feeling that something else bad happened to them.

"They were also killed sometime this morning. All we know is that it took place after Melissa's death."

"Are you kidding me?!" she practically screamed. Derek stood up and held his hand out.

"You should come with me to meet my team. You seem to know a lot about the girls and we need your help. We want to put this man or woman behind bars as fast as we can." He said. Shiloh hesitated, but soon followed him into another part of the campus. The two walked into a conference room where FBI agents and a few police officers were. Pictures of the dead girls were tacked to a board and notes covered the surface.

"Hotch, I need you to meet somebody," Derek called over the rush. A man who Shiloh presumed was Hotch walked over to them and eyed her up and down.

"This is Shiloh Montgomery. She was close with Melissa and knew the other girls. Shiloh, this is my boss, Aaron Hotchner," Derek introduced them. Hotch held out his hand to the young girl and she slowly took it. He was intimidating to say the least, but what would you expect? He's part of the FBI after all.

"What can you tell me about Melissa Taylors?" he asked nodding for her to sit down at the large table in the room.

"She and I started college because we wanted to study nursing. She was my roommate, but not too far into our freshman year, she started to party more and was kicked out of the nursing program because her grades fell too low. She and I were best friends until later this year because she went too crazy for me. She slept around and did drugs…" Shiloh recapped everything to him that she had told Derek, and he just listened intently, soaking in all the new information like a sponge.

"Is there anything else that happened recently? Probably earlier this week?" he asked.

"Uh…Well, there is a rumor going around that she slept with Jennie Way's boyfriend and she and Jennie got into a fight because of it. But nothing other than that," Shiloh replied, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. Hotch glanced over his shoulder at the working agents behind him.

"Reid, come here." A man with shaggy brown hair walked over. He was wearing slightly wrinkled khaki pants, an oddly patterned button up and a sleeveless sweater vest on top that didn't match the button up. Shiloh resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow at his outfit.

"Yeah Hotch?"

"I need you to find a Jennie Way so we can question her about Melissa."

"Gotcha," Reid turned to leave, but Hotch stopped him.

"One more thing. I want you to keep talking to Shiloh here. Morgan is going to go back onto the campus to talk to more students, and I need to talk to the campus director with Rossi." He left before Reid could object and walked over to talk to Rossi and Prentiss.

Reid and Shiloh looked at each other and an awkward silence washed over them. Finally Reid took a deep breath and sat down in the chair next to her.

"Listen, I know how hard it must be for you to have to go through something like this, but we need all the help we can get. If you hear or see anything suspicious going on, come to us immediately," Reid said never breaking their eye contact.

"Okay, Reid—"

"It's Dr. Spencer Reid, but just call me Spencer or Agent Reid," he stumbled a little, but sounded professional enough.

"Okay, Dr. Reid… But what do I do if the…killer attacks again? What if it's someone else I know?" she asked quietly, squeezing her hands together. Spencer cleared his throat and finally looked away from the blonde girl in front of him.

"If we do our job correctly, there hopefully won't be a next time," he answered just a quietly. Shiloh glanced up at him and saw an awkward smile on his lips.

"Yeah hopefully… I should probably call Melissa's parents… I was one of her only true friends for a while. This is just so much to take in," she mumbled rubbing her temples.

"It's been said that time heals all wounds. I don't agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue, and the pain lessens, but it is never gone." Spencer said out of the blue. Shiloh raised an eyebrow and looked at him oddly.

"Was that supposed to make me feel better or something?" she asked. Spencer shook his head.

"No, but it's the truth. Over time, the pain will lesson, but you'll never forget who Melissa was." Shiloh smiled a little more and stood up. Spencer followed her lead and soon they were face to face again.

"In your own way, you made me feel somewhat better. Thank you and if I hear anything, I'll let you know. Bye Spencer," Shiloh gave him a small wave before walking out of the room. Spencer wiggled his fingers a little not really knowing what to do. Once Shiloh was out of the room he let out a deep breath and relaxed. He heard a whistle behind him and turned to see JJ and Prentiss watching him with knowing smiles.

"Did Wonder boy just work that nerdy charm of his?" Emily asked JJ. The blonde woman winked at her and watched Spencer blush red before turning back to her work.

"Come on guys, we don't have any time to waste. There's a killer out there and is showing no signs of stopping any time soon…" Spencer picked up a few of the pictures of the dead girls and scanned them while looking for anything that popped out at him.

"This is obviously a hate crime. You can tell because of the way Melissa's face was nearly indistinguishable while her body wasn't as damaged," he explained. Prentiss nodded and took the photo he was looking at.

"The most obvious suspect would be one of the girls she's scorned by stealing their boyfriend," she thought out loud. JJ watched them talk it out not really wanting to get involved. She was there to keep the peace and a leash on the media. She has never really liked to be involved with the problem solving and picture looking…

Spencer began to pace back and forth in front of the note board. A thousand thoughts were running through his head as he tried to decipher them all.

"Everything in the victims' rooms was spotless. The only mess came from the body because of the way the unsub cut their hearts out. This suggests that he or she is either meticulous about cleanliness or is taking extreme cautions to not get caught. As for cutting the hearts out; if it's a girl, she is simply doing to them what Melissa did to her when Melissa stole her boyfriend," Reid mumbled, but he was loud enough for the girls to hear him.

"That makes sense, but why kill the others? Melissa was the one who hurt her. Why not just kill her?" Prentiss asked.

"That's easy. In the unsub's mind, everyone who was friends with Melissa is just like her."

 **A/N: Here's the first chapter! Thanks for the favorites and follows. Leave a review and let me know what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3

**"Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." -Confucius**

"Shiloh? Are you there?" The blonde looked up at the hand that was being waved in front of her face. Her roommate, Katie, had been trying to get her attention for the last few minutes.

"Yeah, sorry. I just have a lot on my mind lately…" Shiloh mumbled. Katie sat down next to her on her bed and leaned back.

"Do you mean the murders?" Shiloh looked at Katie and nodded. She couldn't get the image of Melissa's dead face out of her head. Ever since she saw her picture tacked to the board in the FBI conference room, it has haunted her. Melissa may not have been the nicest person, but she didn't deserve to die.

"I called Melissa's mom earlier and left a message. She's probably devastated…" Shiloh whispered hearing her voice crack. Katie stood up and looked down at her friend.

"Why are you getting so sad? It's not like you two were close. Everyone knows she went already sleeping with anything that had two legs. Whoever killed her must have had a good reason to," Katie said exasperated. Shiloh looked at her disbelievingly before shaking her head and standing up too.

"Katie, no one should have a reason to kill anyone. It's wrong; no one should play God. And Melissa and I _were_ close… We used to be best friends until she developed her infamous reputation," Shiloh snapped. She liked Katie. When she first found out that Katie was her roommate, she was happy. Katie was new to the school, just transferred last semester and she didn't know anybody. She wasn't a partier and liked to study like Shiloh did. They got along great, but she couldn't stand it that Katie didn't feel sympathetic about Melissa's murder.

"You two were friends?" Katie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah—" Shiloh was cut off by her cell phone ringing. Seeing that it was Melissa's mom, she waved to Katie and walked out of their dorm room. Once she was away from the dorm and other students, she answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Shiloh? Hi, it's Melissa's mom," the woman said with a raspy voice. Shiloh felt her heart drop again and tried to remain as composed as possible.

"Hi Mrs. Taylors. I wanted to call to say that I'm so sorry about what happened to Melissa, and if there is anything I can do, please let me know," she said softly.

"Thank you, Shiloh. I wish you and Melissa were closer friends before she… passed on, but I know what happened. Thank you for calling, and I'll let you know soon about Melissa's… funeral arrangements," her voice cracked again at the end. They said goodbye and hung up. Shiloh sighed heavily and slipped her phone into her pocket. What was she going to do now? She didn't have any more classes today and she didn't feel like talking to Katie again.

She walked around the campus to kill time. It was nearing the FBI mandated dorm curfew hours, but the last thing she wanted to do was go to sleep and end up hearing about another murder.

Shiloh sighed and ran a hand through her hair before heading toward the library. She had an exam coming up in Mr. Fritz's class, her psychology class. She went inside and felt warmth spread through her body; winter was fast approaching, and the cold was beginning to set in everywhere. Shiloh loved when the school started turning on the heaters.

She gathered all the books she wanted and found a small cubicle near the window to sit at. She buried her nose in her books for what seemed like hours until the old librarian, Ms. Stevens, walked over to her and told her she needed to leave. She checked her books out and began the walk back to her dorm. Hopefully Katie was already asleep so they wouldn't get into another tiff.

It was dark and a few outdoor lamps where lit to show the way. Shiloh suddenly felt vulnerable and cursed herself for losing track of the time and staying out so late. She picked up her pace not wanting to be out in the cold much longer, but her newly borrowed books made that more difficult than she would have liked.

Maybe it was just her mind playing tricks on her, but she thought she heard someone walking behind her. When she looked though, no one was there. Feeling even more freaked out, Shiloh began to jog back to her room. She quickly rushed inside and locked the door behind her. Katie was asleep like she hoped. Letting out a deep breath, she set her books down and got ready to go to bed. She had a bad feeling about that night.

The next morning she was woken up abruptly to her phone ringing right next to her ear. She fumbled trying to pick it up quickly. Glancing over, she saw Katie was already gone for the day, but paid no attention to it. Katie usually left before her on most days.

"Hello?"

"Shiloh, this Derek Morgan from yesterday. Can you come by the conference room as soon as possible? We need you to look at something for us." The girl gulped but told him she would be there in a few minutes. She didn't like Derek's tone and could already tell that whatever it was that they wanted to show her would be bad. Slipping out of her warm bed, Shiloh quickly threw herself together and left.

When she arrived at the conference room, Derek let her in immediately. She took a seat next to Spencer and waited to be told what to do.

"Shiloh, listen to me carefully. We just want you to look at this man's face and tell us who it is. You don't have to look at the rest of the picture," Spencer said gently. Shiloh's heart rate picked up speed, but she nodded softly anyway.

"Do you know who this man is?" Spencer held up a picture. Shiloh looked directly at the face as instructed and gasped. Her eyes glanced at the rest of the picture to see what happened to him but quickly realized her mistake. What she saw made her want to throw up. Spencer quickly put the picture away and rested a hand awkwardly on her shoulder.

"Sorry about that, but can you identify him?"

"Yeah, that's Brandon Adams. He's Melissa's latest boyfriend - was her boyfriend, and he's my ex. We just broke up a few weeks ago because of Melissa…" she whispered feeling tears prickle in her eyes. Aaron Hotchner stepped out of the room to make a call and Shiloh stayed seated with Spencer. Derek was out in the hall talking to whoever was on the phone.

"Who did that to him?" Shiloh asked softly wiping the tears away; she knew something bad was going to happen last night. Spencer looked at her and sighed knowing that she looked at the rest of the picture.

"A person not in their right mind." Even he had a hard time stomaching what happened. The poor guy was stabbed multiple times and then had his genitals hacked off. Like the hearts of the girls, his genitals were missing as well when the police showed up that morning.

"Good morning, agents. Is there anything I can help you with?" Shiloh looked away from Spencer and over to a man standing in the doorway. He had short brown hair that was starting to gray, an average body, and he was dressed in a police uniform.

"Thank you, Officer McDaniel, but I think we still have everything we need. This is just taking longer than we expected. Whoever is doing this knows how to clean up after themselves," Derek answered as he walked back into the room with Hotch. Roy ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"Sorry to pester you, but a lot of parents have begun to call, and they want us to evacuate the school before anyone else gets hurt."

"That isn't necessary as of right now. If we can't figure out who the unsub is within the next day or so, then we can think about evacuation, but right now, that is on our drastic measures list," Hotch replied. Roy nodded and took his leave.

"We might evacuate the school?" Shiloh asked softly once the others began to get back to work again. Spencer looked at her and shrugged his shoulders a little.

"We're usually pretty fast at solving these cases, but if it begins to take too long, we do want to get people to safety. What Hotch is saying though is that if we evacuate people now, the unsub may leave too, and then we'll have no means of finding him again," he added.

"I think I get that, but what's an unsub? You've said that before too, but I don't know what that is," Shiloh whispered.

"It's just short for unidentified subject. The killer is an unsub," he explained. Shiloh nodded, understanding, and stood up.

"I've figured out that the killings happened at night in the early hours of the morning. That means your unsub might strike again tonight, right?" she asked playing with her phone in her hands.

"That's correct," Spencer hesitated because he didn't want to scare her, but if something did happen, he wanted to be truthful with her and keep her trust.

"Spencer, can I have your number? Just in case something else happens? It would make me feel better," she whispered. Spencer gave her a tiny smile and told her his number. He showed her to the door and reassured her once more before telling her goodbye.

"Looks like someone has Wonderboy wrapped around her pretty little finger," Derek said smirking while looking through a folder. Spencer sent him a glare and sat back down at the table.

"Hey! No teasing him. We already did that yesterday," JJ said with a smile. Hotch glanced at everyone and hid a tiny smile behind a photo he was studying.

"Enough, let's get back to this. Why would the unsub target a man? We thought they were just after the girls that turned on them," Spencer said glancing over papers again.

"Maybe the unsub and Brandon were involved before Melissa took him from her?" Emily threw in.

"No, Brandon and Shiloh were going out and then Melissa showed up. Shiloh isn't our unsub so that rules out that idea," Derek replied. The team stood around the table trying to brain storm.

"Could the unsub consider Brandon a friend of Melissa's and count him as someone who betrayed her?" Rossi asked.

"Maybe… There are too many possibilities," Hotch added softly. The rest nodded in agreement.

"Reid, did you find out about Jennie Way?" Hotch asked after a moment of silence.

"Yeah, but she checked out fine and had an alibi. It was just a normal cat fight over boys. She couldn't have killed those three girls," he replied, handing Hotch his notes about Jennie. Hotch scanned over them and nodded. They were coming up with a dead end.

"What do we do now? Wait for another killing that might give us another clue?" Emily asked feeling somewhat desperate.

"No, we get back out there and do what we do best. Profile," Derek said walking out the door.

Shiloh sat down in a chair near the window with her coffee in hand. The school campus coffee shop was moving slowly today. Nobody wanted to be outside where a killer was running around. Word got out about the murders and everyone was starting to panic.

Shiloh blew on her coffee a little before taking a small sip as to not burn her tongue. Her talk with Spencer that morning made her feel a little better. Having his number put her at ease. If she was ever walking alone again at night, she'd probably call him and stay on the phone with him until she got back to her dorm.

She glanced at her watch and saw that it was almost time for her afternoon class. Taking her coffee with her, she walked back out into the cold winds of Virginia. She pulled her coat tighter around her body and trudged to her class with Mr. Fritz. When she walked into the classroom, she tossed her coffee away and walked over to Mr. Fritz's desk.

"Mr. Fritz, can you please take my essay and grade it. I know it was due yesterday, but can you make an exception?" she asked. The young professor looked up at her from behind his square glasses. Mr. Fritz, Matthew Fritz, was only 32, had messy styled black hair, a runner's body and bright blue eyes. A lot of the girls found him nice too look at and Shiloh wasn't any different. She definitely liked having a class where she didn't get bored watching her teacher.

"Can I ask why you weren't in my class yesterday?" he asked with a light smile.

"I was actually running here yesterday but ran into an FBI agent. He stopped me and had me answer a few questions about… what's been happening lately with the murders," she whispered the last part, "And then when I checked the time again, your class had already started and I knew the doors would be locked." She looked at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Okay, okay. How can I say no to a face like that?" he joked with a small laugh. Everyone liked Mr. Fritz because he wasn't a hardass like the other professors.

"You're the best! Thank you so much!" she wanted to hug him but stopped because that would look inappropriate.

"Speaking of the FBI, they got here yesterday, right? Why were they asking you questions?" he asked, turning a little more serious.

"Yeah, they got here yesterday morning and they're asking the students questions about Melissa and if they've seen anyone acting strangely," she replied. Mr. Fritz nodded.

"Be careful, I don't want you to get hurt…or anyone else for that matter."

"Thanks Mr. Fritz, I will be," Shiloh said smiling before going to take her seat.

 **A/N: Dun dun dun dun! Let me know what you think in the reviews section! When I wrote this for the first time, I loved getting feedback on who the readers thought the killer was. I'm not super strong at writing suspense because I like to get to the point pretty quickly. I have two other stories going right now so go check them out too! (:**


	4. Chapter 4

**"Jealousy is nothing more than a fear of abandonment" -Arab Proverb**

Almost an hour into her class, there was a knock on the classroom door. Mr. Fritz sighed and went to answer it; he hated it when people interrupted his class time. On the other side stood Spencer and JJ. To say Shiloh was happy was an understatement. She was ecstatic that they were there. Being around Spencer and anyone else in the BAU made her feel safe. Not to mention seeing Spencer in general made her smile.

"I'm Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid and this is Special Agent Jennifer Jareau. We're from the FBI and here to talk to your students about a few important matters. Can we come in?" Mr. Fritz slowly moved out of the way and let the two agents in.

"Hello everyone, I'm sure most of you have heard about what's been happening and we're here to talk to you about your safety," JJ started. Several of Shiloh's classmates sat up a little straighter and gave the agents their full attention. Word had gotten out about the murders that happened in some of the dorms, and the student body was on high alert.

"If you have mace or pepper spray, we are recommending that you carry it everywhere. Boys and girls alike should have some," Spencer added. A few of the guys gulped, but Shiloh ignored them. Her eyes followed Spencer everywhere. It was almost as much fun to watch him as it was to watch Mr. Fritz. He had that nerdy charm that Shiloh liked.

"Make sure you are back by the set dorm curfew or earlier. Not many of you are happy about it's new installation, but it's for your own safety. We know that the killer likes to strike when their victim is alone at night."

"Lock your door and windows, just in case. The victims were found in their rooms, so the killer either broke in or managed to take them back to their rooms to kill them," Spencer said. Everyone cringed and a few even looked away, not wanting to imagine what happened to the other students. No one seemed to be safe anymore.

"And most importantly, keep to a buddy system. All the victims were alone and none of their friends knew where they were before they were…killed," JJ finished. The guy sitting next to Shiloh nudged her. He had never spoken a word to Shiloh before now, and she really didn't care to make his acquaintance.

"You should be my buddy," he winked at her. Shiloh raised an eyebrow and looked away from him.

"Only in your dreams, hot shot." He grumbled something under his breath about girls not appreciating what was in front of them and rolled his eyes. Shiloh begged to differ. She definitely appreciated the FBI agent in front of her.

"Are there any questions?" Spencer asked after a moment.

"I have one. What exactly are you guys doing to protect the students? Dean Rivers just told all the professors that there won't be an evacuation yet," Mr. Fritz said, leaning against his desk, arms crossed with the end of his pencil between his teeth. His cocky stance touched a nerve in Spencer.

"Police officers and FBI agents are going to each class telling them how to stay safe. And if we evacuate now, the killer could get away and leave with the students and then come back and start killing again when the school opens up again," Spencer replied, looking Mr. Fritz over. There was more silence as Spencer studied Shiloh's teacher.

"I'm still not convinced that your team is legit. Even I can go around saying that people do certain things because of the way they are behaving. I was a clinical psychologist before I came here," Mr. Fritz retorted, putting his pencil down on his desk. Spencer raised an eyebrow and glanced at JJ with a small smirk. Let the fun begin.

"Okay, allow me to demonstrate for you. You're single; probably recently divorced. You still have a tan mark where your wedding band should be which also means you lived somewhere sunny. I'm betting Florida because of the letter from your parents on your desk with a return address located in Miami. You're physically fit so you worked out at least three or four times a week back in Miami, probably to escape from your martial problems. You and your wife separated because you buried your life in work and the gym.

"Not to mention, you're still peeved about the divorce because even now you're glaring at me because I'm hitting the nail on the head. You're ex-wife is trying to take all your money and you resorted to teaching here because the hours at the hospital were taking a toll on you along with the constant meetings with your lawyer. You have bags under your eyes because of the lack of sleep you're getting.

"I think I've said enough, do you agree?" Spencer asked. JJ was smiling behind him and a few of the students were snickering. Shiloh had to make sure her jaw wasn't on the ground. Spencer could tell all of that just from looking at him and a few things in the room? Mr. Fritz looked like he wanted to punch Spencer for telling his life story to the class.

"There are also these things called background checks that I'm sure you've done on all the teachers here," Mr. Fritz glowered at Spencer.

"True, but my boss has them and I haven't had a chance to look over them. I'll make sure to check yours to make sure I'm right." Spencer didn't know where the sudden confidence came from, but he didn't feel like backing down. Maybe it was because someone thought he lacked the basic skills needed to do his job. Dr. Spencer Reid did **not** lack any of those skills. Gideon made sure to ingrain that in his head so that local law enforcement didn't overlook him because he was so young.

A clock on the wall showed that the class was over, and students began to walk past the FBI agents and out the classroom door. Shiloh jumped up with her bag and notebook and jogged over to Spencer and JJ.

"That was amazing. If I wasn't so into nursing, your demonstration would have made me want to study criminology," the girl said, grinning. Spencer's confidence slowly began to leave and he turned a light pink shade from her compliments.

"Uh thanks. My job is the best thing I'm good at," he said, shyly running a hand through his hair. It was like Shiloh brought back his awkward, shy phase when he wasn't able to talk to women. The cat literally had his tongue.

"I'll catch up with you later, Spence," JJ said, patting him on the shoulder and leaving. It was just Shiloh and Spencer by the door and Mr. Fritz still next to his desk.

"Can we go somewhere and talk again?" she asked, softly. Spencer swallowed and nodded slowly. As they walked out the door together, Shiloh glanced back at Mr. Fritz and said goodbye. He told her to stay safe but glared at Spencer as he left the room.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Spencer asked as they walked.

"What should I be looking for? I know you said anything out of the ordinary, but everything looks strange now… Is there anything specific?" she asked and sat down on the edge of a large stone water fountain. Spencer sat down next to her and nodded.

"Right now, we're thinking the unsub is a girl. Look for someone who is having a hard time displaying emotions because she might be a sociopath. Think about a girl in particular that Melissa scorned the worst and try to picture if they could get mad enough to hurt people. That's what we're trying to find out right now."

"And what about Brandon? Why was a boy killed when the first three victims were girls?" she asked, quietly. No one else was around, but it just felt wrong to be talking about someone else's death in such an easy going way.

"We're not sure yet. There are still a lot of scenarios my team and I are tossing around." Shiloh let out a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"How do you deal with seeing those pictures every day?" she asked, remembering seeing Brandon and Melissa both dead. Her sleep last night wasn't as nice as she would have liked it to be, and she found herself waking up multiple times throughout the night with pictures of them in her head.

"I don't; that's the worst part about my job. I'm plagued with nightmares filled with the deceased's pictures. You just need to come to terms with their death," he replied just as quietly. Shiloh looked at him sadly and placed her hand on top of his.

"I don't think that I can. I know that I pester you a lot, but I can please call you tonight if I can't sleep?" she asked. Spencer swallowed heavily and nodded. He didn't know what it was, but something about Shiloh just pulled him in. He knew he shouldn't get personally involved in a case because of what happened before with Lila, but he was drawn to Shiloh. Like a fly to honey; it was hard to tell her no.

"Shiloh, listen to me," he said, sternly squeezing her hand. Shiloh looked at him and held his gaze.

"What?" she asked softly.

"I've been thinking, which I do a little too much sometimes, but I picked up on a small pattern. You have known all the victims on a more personal level. That could just be a coincidence, but don't try to take any chances. Do you understand?" he asked. Shiloh's heart was pounding, but she understood what he was hinting at.

"You're saying that I could be in more danger than others, right? I understand," she whispered.

"Shiloh, it could just be me over thinking things, but please stay safe, okay?" he asked. Shiloh pulled her hand away from his and wiped under her eyes, put on a smile and nodded.

"Yeah, I promise I will. I gotta go. Thanks for talking to me," she said, standing up to leave. She gave him one more smile before walking away wiping her eyes. Spencer sighed and rubbed his temples. This was not the time to get wrapped up in a girl that could turn into another victim.

Shiloh hurried to her dorm room and locked the door behind her. Katie looked up from her laptop and gave her a funny look.

"Why are you in such a rush?" she asked, taking a sip of her water bottle.

"No reason. I'm feeling a little antsy like everyone else," she mumbled and dropped her shoulder bag on the floor next to her bed. Katie closed her laptop and sat up to face Shiloh.

"Guess what?" she said with a light smile.

"Hmm?" Shiloh asked, taking her homework out of her binder.

"Some of the frat guys from Gamma Phi are throwing a party tonight."

"A party?! Are they crazy? There's a killer on the loose," Shiloh grumbled, shaking her head.

"You don't want to go?" Katie asked with a pouty face. Shiloh looked at her strangely. Katie never wanted to go to Frat parties. She always called them lousy and giant orgies.

"You want to?" she asked. Her roommate shrugged her shoulders and laid down on her back with her hands behind her head.

"I thought it might take our minds off of what's been going on," Katie said, looking at the ceiling.

"Yeah, or we might witness a murder… Katie, you can go, but I don't want to leave our room tonight, or any night. I want the FBI to catch this creep and then everything can go back to normal," she mumbled. Katie looked at her with somewhat sad eyes and nodded.

"Well, I think I'll go out for a little bit and then come back later tonight."

"Before the curfew, right?" Shiloh asked, looking at her friend.

"I don't know, maybe."

"Katie! There's a killer out there. Please be back by curfew so I don't have to worry about you," she pleaded. Katie sighed and nodded.

"Okay, I'll be back by curfew. Don't worry so much. There's thousands of students here. What're the chances of the killer targeting little ole me?" she joked and walked to her closet to pick out an outfit. Shiloh didn't find it funny. She kept thinking about what Spencer said at the fountain. Was she really in danger? And if she was, then wouldn't Katie be too?

Shiloh pushed the thoughts away and started on her homework. Before she knew it, the sun was setting and Katie was grabbing her dorm keys.

"I'll be back soon, I promise," Katie said as she left. Shiloh was alone… and it was dark outside. She tapped her pen against her paper before tossing her work aside. It hadn't even been thirty minutes and she was already bored. Shiloh grabbed her phone that was sitting next to her and ran her fingers over the key pad. Spencer shouldn't be busy, right? He should be resting. She quickly found his name in her contacts and called him.

"Dr. Reid."

"Spencer? It's Shiloh," she said, biting her lip. For reasons she didn't know, butterflies swarmed her stomach when she heard him speak.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, going into agent mode.

"Yeah, I'm just alone now and it's dark. Katie, my roommate, went to a frat party that Gamma Phi is throwing," she said.

"There's a party tonight?" he asked and called someone over. Shiloh heard him telling someone to get over to the party to check things out.

"Yeah, the frat guys wanted to loosen everyone up a bit because of the murders and everything."

"Shiloh, whatever happens tonight, don't leave your room," Spencer demanded. Shiloh tensed up at the sudden authority in his voice.

"Spencer, what's going on?" she whispered into the phone. Spencer sighed heavily.

"We just got a frantic call from a student, and they were saying someone was hurt. We're not jumping to conclusions, but just don't leave your room—"

"But Katie is out there somewhere! She could be hurt!" Shiloh panicked, already grabbing her jacket and shoes. She needed to find Katie and bring her back before anything else happened.

"Shiloh! Listen to me! It's not safe right now. The injured student was stabbed and that's all we know right now. The paramedics took him and we won't know anything else for a few hours. Please, stay inside," Spencer pleaded. Shiloh hesitated by the door, but made up her mind.

"I'm sorry, Spencer, but she's my friend," Shiloh whispered sadly before hanging up on him. She could hear him yelling as she ended the call and put her phone away. Shiloh ran out into the hall and then outside. Gamma Phi's dormitory was to the right of hers so she ran in its direction.

When she entered it, she heard pounding music and there were red cups littered everywhere. She pushed her way through the crowds of people until she reached another hall way. She jogged down it and tried calling Katie, but it went straight to her voicemail.

"Dammit, answer your phone!" she snapped and shoved her phone back into her pocket.

"Katie!" she called, opening doors to different rooms. She was beginning to panic and entered another hall. It was quieter and the pounding music barely reached her now.

"Katie! Where are you?!" she yelled and opened more doors. She was about to turn around and check the rooms again and head back the way she came, but she heard footsteps behind her. Thinking it might be Katie, she spun on her heels.

"K—Holy shit… Katie! Are you okay?!"

 **A/N: As I'm rereading this story, I'm picking up on small mistakes I made a long time ago. I'm fixing things as I go and trying to add in more detail. The future chapters will be better, but let me know what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5

**"Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked." - Niccolo Machiavelli**

"Oh my God! Are you bleeding?!" Shiloh practically screamed and ran over to her friend. Katie stood at the end of the hall covered in blood, head turned towards the ground. She finally looked at Shiloh when the blonde reached her.

"I told you I would be back later. Why did you come here?" Katie asked softly. Shiloh's eyes widened. She didn't understand why Katie wasn't freaking out with the amount of blood soaking into her clothing. Her roommate's face remained blank and void of any emotion. Shiloh searched it, hoping to see something that told her Katie was okay and not having some kind of mental breakdown.

"What're you talking about? Spencer said a student got stabbed somewhere on campus, and I came to bring you back before you got hurt too. Are you bleeding? Is this your blood?" Shiloh asked, reaching out to touch Katie. She didn't expect Katie to have such a violent reaction to her reaching for her.

"Don't touch me!" She yelled, slapping Shiloh's hands away. It was then that Shiloh noticed the glistening knife in Katie's hand. It was covered in blood and slowly dripping onto the tile flooring. Shiloh felt her blood run cold when realization started to wash over her.

"Oh God… Katie, what did you do?" She whispered, feeling tears prickle in her eyes. Katie's lack of remorse and emotion in general was starting to worry Shiloh.

"Who's Spencer?" Katie asked, ignoring her friend's question.

"He's an FBI agent. Never mind him, answer me. What did you do, Katie?" She asked again slowly. Katie looked down at the knife and lifted it up to show Shiloh the still fresh blood. It ran down the handle to join the blood already coating Katie's hand.

"Just what needed to be done."

"Katie, please don't tell me you were the one who stabbed that student a few minutes ago," Shiloh pleaded, holding back her tears. Shiloh already knew the answer, but she wanted Katie to deny it, tell her it was someone else. She wanted to remain ignorant, but she knew it was impossible now. She was staring at the murder weapon in her friend's hand.

"Are you talking about Damien? He had one coming," Katie mumbled, smearing the blood on her knife with her finger. Shiloh turned away and leaned against the wall beside her. She felt like throwing up but managed to hold it back. Damien. He sat next to her in Psychology. She saw him that morning during Spencer's safety speech. He even asked her to be his buddy.

"Why?" Her voice cracked, but Shiloh pushed away from the wall to face Katie again.

"He—"

"FBI! Put the knife down and put your hands up!"Shiloh turned around to see Derek leading his teammates down the hall, all of which had their guns raised.

"Derek, wait! Katie—"

"Shiloh, slowly back away from her." Derek never took his eyes off Katie, but Shiloh understood and began backing away from her friend.

"Shiloh." The girl stopped and looked at Katie. There was a small amount of pleading in Katie's voice that made Shiloh stay in place. They were still close enough to touch.

"Katie, drop the knife and step away from Shiloh," Derek demanded.

"Listen to him!" Spencer called from beside Derek. Shiloh glanced at them and then back to Katie.

"It's all for your own good," Katie said and lifted her bloody fingers to run them down Shiloh's face. Katie let go of the knife and Derek tackled her. Shiloh was frozen in place; she could feel the sticky blood already cooling and drying on her cheek. Katie's words echoed in her head, but she didn't understand them.

"—Loh! Shiloh! Snap out of it. Let's get you out of here," Spencer snapped his fingers in front of her face. Shiloh looked at him and suddenly the dam holding her emotions back burst. Tears ran down her face, and she latched onto the man in front of her. Spencer was taken aback by the sudden attack, but he wrapped his arms around her and led her out of the dorm building.

The party had been cleared away and now there was trash and red cups littered everywhere. Spencer took Shiloh outside and they sat down on a bench near the fountain they were at earlier. Her tears had stopped, but she still held onto him.

"It's over now, we have the unsub. She won't be able to hurt you," He whispered in her ear and rubbed her back gently. Spencer looked over Shiloh's smaller, shaking frame. Something made his chest feel tight at the sight; he didn't like seeing her upset like this.

"She wasn't going to hurt me. She said it was for my own good. What the hell does that even mean?!" She choked out, thinking about how her best friend was going to be behind bars for murder. Spencer sighed and gently wiped the blood off her face with the cuff of his sleeve.

"I'm sorry Shiloh, but Katie needs helps." Shiloh nodded and wiped her eyes.

"Sorry for soaking your shirt," She mumbled with a forced laugh. Spencer just shook his head and looked at her concerned before helping her up. The police were going to want to ask her a few questions.

"Don't worry about it. Are you ready to head back inside?" He asked softly, studying her features. She nodded slowly but still held onto his arm as they walked back into the building. Katie was handcuffed and being led outside by a few police officers. Tears tried to force their way out again, but Shiloh managed to keep them at bay. She didn't need to be a blubbering mess all night.

"I did this for you Shiloh! Those idiots never should have messed with you! Now you don't have to worry anymore!" Katie yelled as the men in blue forced her into the back of a police car. Shiloh closed her eyes and tried not to look back at her. Spencer's mind was racing. Everything was clicking into place; Shiloh knew all the victims and Katie was the one trying to protect her friend. But why did Katie get caught so easily when she had flawlessly clean crime scenes before? He would bring it up with Hotch after he took care of Shiloh.

 _Shiloh._

Just looking at her pained expression caused his heart to ache. He knew he shouldn't feel this way, but it was hard not to. She was an amazing person and then got pulled into this horrible series of events. After what happened with Lila, he shouldn't even be looking at Shiloh, but she made it hard for him to keep his distance. She made him want to protect her. Sure, Spencer joined the FBI to serve and protect, but Shiloh made him want to go above and beyond what was expected of him.

"Reid, there you are. Officer McDaniel needs to ask Shiloh a few questions," Hotch said coming up to them. Shiloh looked uneasily between the two men, but when Spencer gave her a small nod, she walked over to the police chief.

"Garcia just called," Hotch said quietly next to Spencer.

"What did she say?"

"The Damien kid that was stabbed died a few minutes ago from blood loss. Katie cut his tongue out and he ended up choking on the blood," Hotch said grimly.

"That doesn't really match her MO. Have we found the tongue or any of the other organs?" Spencer asked, facing his boss. Something wasn't sitting well with him about how the case was wrapping up. It still felt like they were missing a vital point in all this.

"I thought that too, but we have our killer, Reid. And not everything goes along with the textbook. She might have already disposed of the organs. We're leaving in an hour. Make sure you finish everything you need to," He said, but Spencer heard the double meaning. It was an order to say goodbye to Shiloh.

"Uh, yeah. I-I will," He mumbled and excused himself. Was it wrong to not want to say goodbye to Shiloh? Yes, he'd crossed the line before with Lila, but what he feels for Shiloh is nowhere near what he felt back then. He didn't want to leave her, but Hotch gave him an order and it was his job to fulfill it no matter what his brain was trying to tell him.

Spencer looked around for Shiloh and saw that she was still talking to Officer McDaniel. He leaned against a nearby wall, hands in his pockets and waited for her to finish up.

"Waiting for your girl, Boy Wonder?" Derek asked, coming to lean next to him. Spencer glanced at him before focusing on Shiloh again.

"She's not my girl and Hotch just told me to say goodbye to her. We're leaving soon," He mumbled. Derek raised his eyebrows and smirked a little before it fell.

"I don't feel comfortable leaving yet," Derek replied softly.

"I don't either. We're missing something, but Hotch said we're done so there's nothing else we can do here. We caught the killer," Spencer said.

"He's the boss. Don't forget to tell her you'll miss her," Derek smirked again and patted Spencer on the shoulder before walking away. Spencer held back a blush and coughed into his fist. Damn Derek for always wanting to get him flustered.

"Are you okay?" Shiloh asked. Spencer coughed more, surprised because he hadn't realized she was done being questioned.

"Uh, yeah sorry. Something was in my throat. Are you done?" He asked clearing his throat one last time. She nodded, but her eyes still had a faraway look to them. Spencer deduced that she was still trying to come to terms with what happened in the last hour.

"Spencer, can you walk me back to my dorm?" She asked quietly.

"Of course." Shiloh held onto his arm again as they walked toward the girls' dorm. It was silent between them; neither one knowing what to say to the other.

"Now that everything is done, my team is leaving soon," Spencer started. Shiloh looked up at him with sad eyes and nodded. She figured the team wouldn't stick around forever and would eventually have to leave once the case was over.

"When? Tomorrow?"

"Actually in 40 minutes," He said. Shiloh stopped walking and looked at him.

"So soon? I thought I would have more time to thank you," She said, her voice cracking. Spencer panicked and did the first thing he could think of. He cupped her face in his larger hands.

"Hey, don't be sad. You've already thanked me enough. This is my job," He said, trying to make her feel better.

"Honestly, I don't want you to go. I'm scared, but when you're here, I feel so much better," She mumbled and hugged him, resting her head on his chest. Warmth filled Spencer, and he wrapped his arms around her, but in the back of his mind, this was goodbye. He couldn't take things further with Shiloh. Despite what he was feeling, Shiloh was vulnerable. She was attached to him because he saved her, and he was there for her when she needed it. Once everything settled, she would go back to how things were before and forget about him. His years of schooling and psychology classes were winning over what he was feeling.

"You don't need to be scared. No one will hurt you anymore," He said pulling away. He let her link her arm with his again and they walked into the girls' dorm. Shiloh led him to her room and stopped at the door.

"Thank you for walking me back," She whispered.

"No problem. Get some rest and you'll feel better in the morning."

"Promise?" She asked with a small smile.

"Promise," He breathed with a smile of his own. Shiloh opened her door to walk in, but stopped and turned back again.

"Hopefully, we'll see each other in the future. Goodnight, Spencer," She said and stood up on her toes to kiss him quickly on the lips. Before Spencer's genius brain could comprehend what just happened, Shiloh was already closing her door and locking it. Spencer's heart was pounding in his ears and his lips tingled. So much for logic ruling over emotions. Spencer was about to muster up the courage to knock on her door and find out what she was wanting from him, but he was stopped by his phone ringing in his pocket.

"Reid, where are you? We're loading up," Derek said on the other end.

"Sorry, I'll be there soon," He said hanging up and jogging down the hall. Once he got to the end, he couldn't help but look back at her door one last time before leaving the dorm.

 **A/N: I appreciate all the follows, favorites, and reviews! It means so much to me that you guys are liking it and giving me feedback. Keep it up! I get more motivated to update my stories when I have more responses to them lol and let me know what you think about Katie getting arrested.**


	6. Chapter 6

**"When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend." - William Blake**

Bright lights illuminated the dark room around Katie as she slowly tried to keep from falling asleep. The police put her in this room a few hours ago and now it was probably nearing some ungodly early hour in the morning. The brunette just wanted to fall asleep and forget everything that happened the night before. Shiloh caught her in the act and ruined everything she had built up.

Finally, the door opened and Officer McDaniel walked in with a file in his hand. He placed it down in front of Katie and opened it so she could see the pictures of the dead students and their mutilated faces.

"Damien died of blood loss because you cut his tongue out. Brandon died of blood loss because you cut his penis and testicles off. Melissa, Claire and Olivia died of blood loss because you cut their hearts out," He stated, but Katie shook her head slowly. The officer was jumping to conclusions when he still didn't have all the facts.

"No, I didn't kill Brandon or Melissa." Roy raised an eyebrow but kept up with his line of questioning. It was a little late to start denying it now; they caught her red handed, literally.

"Katie, they were killed the same way you killed the others expect for the body part you cut off. Where are the missing body parts?" He asked.

"I don't know; I gave them to him. He said he wanted them—" Officer McDaniel huffed and cut her off.

"Katie, I know you killed them. You had the murder weapon on you with the victim's blood. It's too late to try to pin the blame on someone else. Where are the body parts you took from the crime scenes?" He asked again slowly, trying and failing to keep the frustration out of his voice. It'd been a long night, and he wanted to go home and crawl in his own bed.

"I said I don't have them. I gave them to him," Katie said, glaring at the officer. Roy sighed and sat down across from her at the table.

"Okay, why did you give them to _him_?" He asked going along with her little story to see what else she had up her sleeve.

"Because he said he wanted to keep them; they were his souvenirs or something. He said he wanted to remember why each of them died. I gave them to him so I don't have them anymore," She explained with hate on her face. Roy leaned forward a little and tried to see if the girl was lying or not.

"And why would he want to remember why the students died?"

"He told me that they were hurting Shiloh's feelings and that they needed to be punished. They didn't deserve to live if they put Shiloh in pain. He asked me to help him because I'm her best friend. Who wants to see their best friend go through pain? I did what was best for Shiloh!" She cried on the edge of a mental breakdown. The officer could see the early signs of hyperventilation and tried to intervene before she made herself pass out on him.

"Katie, calm down. Who is he?" Roy asked. He still wasn't sure whether or not to believe her, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. He would make sure all his bases were covered and nothing could come back and bite him in the ass.

"I can't tell you that…" She mumbled, looking at the metal table covered in crime scene photos.

"Katie, if you don't, you'll go to jail and take all the blame. Shiloh won't be happy if she finds out about that." Roy said trying to make her feel more guilty. He knew it was wrong, but the girl obviously sought to have Shiloh's approval. Katie looked up at him with sad eyes.

"But he said that if Shiloh knew what he was doing then she would be upset. I don't want to make Shiloh cry; she's my best friend!" Roy rubbed his temples and then knew that he wouldn't be going home anytime soon. Katie's past revealed several triggers including childhood abuse and neglect. It was going to take a while to get through to her.

* * *

Shiloh woke up early the next morning and looked over to see Katie's bed empty. Her heart clenched at the sight, but she pushed it aside and got dressed to go out. She couldn't stand to stay in that room any longer than she had to. A knock on her door stopped her mid-dress. She quickly buttoned her jeans and answered it.

"Shiloh Montgomery?" The man asked. There were three officers standing outside her door.

"Yes?"

"We're going to ask you to leave this room for the next few hours. We're here to pick up Katie's belongings as evidence in the ongoing murder investigation," He informed her. Shiloh swallowed the lump in her throat and grabbed her jacket and bookbag.

"Most of Katie's things are on the right. We had the room split pretty evenly," She added, not wanting them to take her things too. The man nodded and stepped inside once she was out the door. Still feeling tired, Shiloh decided to go down to the cafe to grab a coffee. It was better than sitting around in the common room of the dorm waiting for the officers to finish invading her personal space.

That thought was out the door as soon as she saw the swarm of news vans and reporters by the student living area of the campus. She quickly turned to leave, but a reporter already saw her.

"Shiloh! You are Shiloh Montgomery, right?" She called after her. The blonde stopped walking and turned around only to see a camera shoved in her face. The other reporters heard and starting going towards her. Panic began to set in as the reporters flocked around her on all sides. Flashes were going off and microphones were vying for her attention.

"Is it true that the killer was obsessed with you?"

"What was your connection to the campus murders?"

"Is it true that the killer was your roommate?"

"Why did Katie kill those students?"

Shiloh felt overwhelmed and her breathing became short and erratic. She didn't want to answer any questions or talk about Katie, but she couldn't find a way to get out of the crowd surrounding her. A hand covered her shoulder and pulled her into someone's chest so that her face was covered from the looming cameras.

"Shiloh won't be answering anymore questions at this time. The university also has a policy about filming and press being on campus. Unless you have a valid permit to be here, you need to vacate the area immediately." Shiloh looked up from the person's chest and saw Mr. Fritz glaring at the reporters.

"You're Matthew Fritz, the teacher of one of the victims. What can you say about the case?"

"I said no more questions," He snapped and led Shiloh away from the mob of flashing lights and microphones. She felt like crying but held it back in front of her teacher turned hero. Once they were safe in one of the school buildings he released her shoulder.

"Sorry for dragging you, but it looked like you could have used some help," Mr. Fritz said with a gentle smile. Shiloh tried to return it, but it felt like more of a grimace.

"Yeah, thank you. You're a lifesaver. God, I hate this," She mumbled. Mr. Fritz was about to say something else, but Shiloh's phone rang and cut him off. She pulled it out of her pocket and smiled genuinely when she saw who it was.

"Sorry, I need to take this. It's Spencer."

"That FBI agent?" Mr. Fritz asked with a sour look on his face.

"Yeah, he's probably just checking in on me. He really helped me out. Thanks for saving me earlier," She said with a fake smile before answering her phone and walking further down the hall to have more privacy.

"Hello?"

"Shiloh, It's Reid - er - Spencer. How are you?" He stumbled. A small grin took over her lips without permission.

"I got bombarded by the press, but Mr. Fritz helped me out and I feel tired, but I think I'm doing better than I was last night. Thanks for asking," She said.

"How was you drive back?"

"Well, it was only ten minutes so it wasn't too bad, but I did stay at the office until two this morning doing paperwork," He grumbled. Shiloh laughed a little and tried to imagine Spencer doing his reports in the dim lit office that she pictured the FBI headquarters looked like.

"You secretly love it," She teased. Spencer chuckled and it made her chest feel lighter. Talking to him in general made her forget about all the bad stuff going on around her, and she felt normal if only for a few moments. They talked for a little longer about anything they could think of, but Shiloh finally looked at a clock in the hall and knew she needed to hang up.

"I need to get going. My next class is in a few minutes so I need to find a way to get across campus without drawing anymore attention. Thanks for calling. You made me feel better," She said softly with a small blush. Shiloh pushed her little crush she seemed to have on Spencer away and focused on what he was saying.

"No problem; just call me whenever you need me. I'll always answer." The two said goodbye and Shiloh turned to head back to her dorm, but she jumped back when she almost ran into someone standing not too far behind her.

"Mr. Fritz, what are you still doing here?" She asked looking up at him. She thought he left a long time ago when she first answered Spencer's call. He was just staring at her with a blank expression and it scared Shiloh. It reminded all too well of what Katie looked like when she was covered in Damien's blood.

"I don't like you talking to that man," He said taking a step forward. He struck a nerve in Shiloh and she felt herself get angry.

"I'm sorry Mr. Fritz, but it's really none of your business who I talk to—" He shoved the blonde backwards and pinned her to the wall, covering her mouth with his hand.

"It's my business when you're mine. No other man should be talking to you when you have me here," He growled and reached into his pocket. Shiloh's eyes grew to the size of saucers and she started to panic. Not knowing what had gotten into her teacher, she jerked and tried to get away from him, but he only held on tighter. She could already feel the bruises forming under her skin where his fingers dug into her. Mr. Fritz pulled a piece of cloth out of his pocket and replaced it over her mouth where his hand just was.

The last thing Shiloh saw before she blacked out was Mr. Fritz's smiling face.

* * *

Spencer hung up with Shiloh and had a silly grin on his face that didn't go unnoticed by Derek. He decided not to tease his teammate for once but wouldn't have had the chance to anyway. JJ ran out of her office and called an emergency meeting.

"JJ, what's going on?" Hotch asked once everyone was seated.

"I just got off the phone with Officer McDaniel. Katie had a partner and they need our help apprehending him. He sent us the recording of the interrogation," JJ hit the play button and everyone watched the video start. Spencer studied Katie's body language when she talked about _him_.

 _"Katie, listen to me. Shiloh will be more upset that you didn't tell the truth than anything else. Do you want her to be that upset?" Roy asked in the video. Katie's face was filled with indecision before she finally caved._

 _"Don't tell him that I told you, but Mr. Fritz really likes Shiloh. He told me that a lot of people were making her unhappy and that I needed to help him make her happy again. He killed Brandon and Melissa, not me," She trailed off before she started panicking again._

 _"I can't believe I told you! No! He'll be so mad! And Shiloh will be sad!" She cried._

 _"Katie, why will Shiloh be sad if we know that you helped him?" Roy asked gently._

 _"Because! He said that if the police knew I was helping him then Shiloh will get hurt really bad," She mumbled and the video stopped._

"If they know that Matthew Fritz was behind it too, then why do they need us?" Derek asked.

"That's the thing. When they went to arrest him, he wasn't anywhere on campus or at his apartment. There was a sign on his classroom saying that the lecture that day was cancelled. And that's not all. Officer McDaniel went to go get Shiloh as soon as they realized Matthew was missing, but they can't find her anywhere," JJ explained.

"But I just talked to Shiloh on the phone before you called us in here. She said that Matthew got her away from the press that's at the campus now. He must have just taken her when we hung up," Spencer said that last part quieter. He tried to hide it, but fear was coating his stomach and bile was trying to make its way up his esophagus. For the first time, he made himself consider the possibility that Shiloh might not make it back.

"Let's get to the cars. We can brain storm during the drive." Hotch demanded and everyone was out of their seats within seconds. The only thing on everyone's mind was to get Shiloh back before her teacher had time to act on his impulses and desires.

* * *

 **A/N: DUN DUN DUN! Sorry it's been so long. I've been working the night shift and sleeping on most of my days off. I didn't take too much time to proof read for spelling and grammar mistakes so please look past that. Let me know what you think about the latest development!**


	7. Chapter 7

**"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed." - Alexander Hamilton**

When Shiloh slowly came to, the blonde saw that she was in a dark room with only one small window. Groaning, she forced herself onto her hands and knees and crawled over to it. The window was dusty and had a crack in the bottom left corner. The first thing Shiloh noticed was that she was high up; she could see the tops of the buildings around her.

But she was still on campus. She could see her dorm building from here and guessed that she was in somewhere in the liberal arts lecture hall. Suddenly remembering how she got there, Shiloh spun around and looked for Mr. Fritz, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Shiloh searched her pockets for her cell phone, but it was gone along with her shoulder bag. She leaned back against the dirty window and held back the tears that wanted to escape. The FBI was gone; Spencer had no idea that she was taken. Mr. Fritz must be involved somehow with the murders that happened on campus, and now she was at his mercy; unable to stop him from doing whatever it was he wanted to do.

"Shiloh."

Her shoulders tensed up at the sound of her teacher's voice. Jerking her head over, Shiloh saw Mr. Fritz closing what looked like a trap door that led down from the attic like space they were in. He smiled at her and walked closer.

"What are you doing by the window?" He asked like she was the one acting silly for looking out the attic window. Shiloh was confused and racked her brain for why he was acting so lighthearted this way. A light bulb went off in her head when she remembered one of his lectures. Some people have fantasies where they truly believe the person they're obsessed with loves them back.

For a moment, Shiloh wondered if that was the case with Mr. Fritz. Did he see her a different way; was he caught in some kind of fantasy?

"I uh… where am I?" She tried asking sweetly. If he was playing out his fantasy with her, then he thinks that they are in love. She decided to try to play along, maybe that will keep her alive longer. Surely someone would notice she was gone soon, but with Katie gone and Spencer back home, who else was there?

"Where're at home," He chuckled and tapped her nose. _Home?_ Shiloh looked around and saw only dusty boxes and a few extra desks and chairs littered everywhere.

"Oh yeah, right," She laughed dryly.

"Work was tiring today. Help me relax like you usually do," He said kneeling in front of her and moving forward. Shiloh panicked and turned her head away from him. Mr. Fritz lips grazed her cheek and he frowned at her reaction.

"Shouldn't we have dinner first?" She squeaked. Mr. Fritz pulled back and beamed at her.

"You're right. We'll eat and then get on to other things. All day I couldn't stop thinking about your legs wrapped around me," He said, suggestively. Shiloh held back her disgusted face and nodded. She used to ogle this man when he stood in front of her class teaching, but now all she saw was a killer that wanted to fuck her.

"What do you want to eat? We don't have any food here, but I'll go pick us up something," He said.

"Uh, thai would be great," She mumbled the first thing that came to mind.

"I'll be back soon," He kissed her forehead and went back down through the trap door. The nearest Thai food place was ten minutes away so that gave her time to try to get out. Adrenaline starting to flow through her veins as she ran to the trap door and tried to pull it open but failed. He must have locked it somehow from the outside.

Shiloh looked around and ran over to the boxes. Maybe there was something in there that would help. She tore through the boxes, but the only things in them were old documents about employees and syllabi. Frustrated and depressed, Shiloh returned to her spot against the window. She could only hope that someone would see she was gone and alert the authorities.

* * *

"Rossi, Prentiss, you two are checking out Matthew's apartment. Morgan and I will go through the dorms. JJ, take Reid and you two search the lecture halls. We don't have time to waste," Hotch finished and left with Derek.

"Let's go," Spencer said and JJ followed close behind him. Even she could see how tense he was. Shiloh's disappearance was affecting him more than it should have; the team saw their connection last time they were at the school but said nothing about it.

"The lecture halls are huge… JJ go left and I'll go right," Spencer said once they reached a fork in the hall.

"But last time we split up—" JJ never forgave herself for leaving Spencer alone to be taken by Tobias and she didn't want a repeat of that event. But Spencer cut her off.

"I know what happened last time, but Shiloh's life is in danger. We need to find her before Matthew's fantasy gets disrupted and she gets killed. Keep in contact through our earpieces," He ordered and took off down his side of the hall. JJ glanced hesitantly at him once more before going in the opposite direction like he told her to.

Spencer scanned the hall with his gun raised. Most of the classrooms were empty and he was nearing a turn in the hall. Slowly he peeked around the corner but didn't see anyone. The only thing that was there was a short string hanging from the ceiling. An attic?

Spencer reached up but even with his height he wasn't able to grab the string. Jogging into an empty room, he grabbed a chair and pulled it into the hall. Climbing up, he tried to reach the string again and was able to pull it down. A small set of stairs slid down and he put his gun back in its holster before climbing them. He reached a flat piece of wood and turned the metal handle, pushing it up. The makeshift door gave way and he crawled up into the attic.

"Shiloh? Shiloh, are you up here?" Reid called into the low lit room. He heard a sniffle and walked towards it.

"Shiloh?" He called again.

"W-Who's there?" Spencer couldn't even describe the amount of relief he felt when he heard her beautiful voice. _Shiloh was alive._

"It's me, Spencer. Where are you?" He asked. There was rushed shuffling and then Shiloh threw herself at him sobbing. Spencer quickly cradled her in his arms and breathed her in. _Shiloh was alive._

"Mr. Fritz…chloroform…door was locked…Thai food," She mumbled gibberish. Spencer held onto her and rubbed soothing circles into her back.

"Don't worry. My team is here now and we're getting you out of here," He said softly, looking into her eyes. Shiloh nodded and kept a hold on his arm like she was scared he would suddenly disappear and leave her alone again with Mr. Fritz. The pair walked to the trap door but stopped when another person appeared coming through it.

"Shiloh, why is the door open?" Mr. Fritz asked looking up. The bag of Thai food dropped from his hand when he saw Shiloh's arms around Spencer and his likewise.

"What's the meaning of this?" He growled, closing the trap door behind him. Spencer reached for his gun when he saw Matthew pull out a large hunting knife.

"Matthew, calm down. Shiloh is scared and wants to leave," Spencer tried to reason.

"Scared?! Why would she be scared? You're the one who invaded our home and tried to seduce my woman," Mr. Fritz snapped. Shiloh made a whimpering sound in the back of he throat and hid her face in Spencer's sleeve.

"Shiloh gets scared when people yell," Spencer replied slowly. Mr. Fritz looked at the blonde girl and then glared at Spencer.

"Don't tell me what she likes and doesn't like. I know Shiloh more than anyone else does. Did you know her favorite color is yellow? That her parents got divorced a few years ago and that she visits her mom more than her dad? That when she was ten, her family dog died of old age? That her scum of an ex-boyfriend cheated on her with her ex-best friend?" Mr. Fritz listed off in a pathetic attempt to sound more important to Shiloh than Spencer was. All it did was freak Shiloh out even more that he knew all those things about her.

"Is that why you killed Brandon and cut off certain extremities of his?" Spencer asked, trying to get off the subject of Shiloh.

"No, I killed Brandon because he was the one who took away Shiloh's virginity. He was her first man and then he goes and cheats on her. He didn't deserve to keep his balls," Mr. Fritz growled and took a step closer to them, but Spencer fired another question at him.

"Then why did you kill Melissa and have Katie kill the others?" He asked quickly.

"Melissa broke Shiloh's heart so I broke hers. Her friends were just as bad so Katie took care of them. And did you hear the way Damien talked to Shiloh? Asking she bluntly if she would sleep with him. He won't be asking such vulgar things anymore; can't talk without a tongue."

"Or if you're dead," Spencer added.

"That too. Now step away from Shiloh and let her come to me. We need to get going," He demanded. Spencer tightened his grip on the girl and moved her so that she was standing behind him, her face in his back.

"I can't do that," Spencer replied calmly. Slowly, he brought his hand up to his ear and pushed the button to talk to his team.

"I have Shiloh and we are in the attic on the right side of the liberal arts lecture hall. Matthew is here and we can't get out," He whispered.

"What are you saying?! Give me Shiloh!" Mr. Fritz yelled. Spencer listened to Hotch's voice in his ear saying that they were on their way.

"Shiloh doesn't love you, Matthew," He stated. Mr. Fritz clenched his fist and held his knife up higher.

"Of course she does. We're in love," He growled and took another step closer.

"No, Shiloh loves me now," Spencer told him, trying to get Mr. Fritz's fantasy to break.

"That's a lie! You're just trying to keep us apart!" Mr. Fritz yelled, pointing his knife at the two of them.

"No, we kissed last night. She loves me now, Matthew," Spencer explained, thinking about the quick kiss she gave him to say goodbye. Shiloh blushed and hid her face even more in Spencer's shirt.

"What? Shiloh, that's a lie, right? Tell me that he's lying!" Mr. Fritz hissed, looking at what he could see of Shiloh behind Spencer, his face begging her to deny it. She shook her head no, that it wasn't a lie.

"No!" He screamed and lunged at Spencer. The FBI agent quickly pushed Shiloh away and fired his gun at the teacher. Mr. Fritz stumbled back and fell down on his butt. He looked to his shoulder and saw that it was bleeding where he had been shot.

"Spencer! Are you okay?" Shiloh crawled over to him and gently held his arm up. He looked down and saw blood coating his white sleeve where the knife must have cut him.

"I'm fine," He mumbled before moving her further back in case Mr. Fritz tried to attack them again. Suddenly, the trap door burst open and Spencer's team filled the dark attic. Derek was on Mr. Fritz and cuffing him in seconds. He read him his rights and took him down the stairs to get his shoulder patched up.

Everyone else slowly went down the stairs and Shiloh saw a mass of people waiting for them. There were paramedics who were currently seeing to her ex-teacher, and a lot of police officers overseeing them. Thankfully, Shiloh didn't see any news cameras or reporters among them.

"Are you okay?" Spencer asked, bringing Shiloh back to the present. She looked at him and saw an EMT bandaging his forearm up. The cut was pretty deep and would probably scar his arm.

"Yeah, it's over now, right? For sure this time?" She asked softly, fear evident in her voice. The EMT finished quickly and left the two to talk. Spencer forced a small smile and opened his arms for her. Shiloh walked into them and held onto Spencer tightly. The FBI agent held her close and felt her tiny body shaking against his.

"It's over now, I promise."

"Get your hands off me. Shiloh's upset and I need to comfort her! Let me go!" Mr. Fritz yelled as the police dragged him away. Spencer pulled Shiloh closer and whispered words of reassurance to calm her down. Hotch looked over at them and sighed before hiding the very small smile on his lips. He went over to talk to Officer McDaniel about what was going to happen next.

"The paramedics want to see you, just to make sure you're alright," Spencer whispered pulling back a little. Shiloh nodded and followed him over to the men in red and black. They checked her vitals and made sure she wasn't going into shock before they let her reunite with Spencer.

"What happens next?" She questioned as Spencer led her out of the building. Now that they were alone, Spencer felt his nerves getting the better of him. He was completely different and much more confident when adrenaline was coursing through him. Now he felt like the nerd trying to impress the lead cheerleader.

"Uh the police will ask more questions. Matthew will probably go to jail for life, and you get to start over," He said. Shiloh linked her arm with his and rested her head on his shoulder.

"What about going to court? Will I have to testify to send Mr. Fritz to jail?" She asked softly, not looking at him.

"You're the best witness. All of this was centered around you so I think they'll ask you to testify—"

"Will you be there?" She asked, looking up at him. Spencer's heart clenched at how broken she looked. He didn't want to see her that way.

"If you want me to."

* * *

 **Let me know what you think! Leave a review! And this isn't the last villain or piece of drama this story will have. So stay tuned and keep reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**"Your time is too valuable to go through life letting people control you and put you on a guilt trip. Take control of your happiness." - Joel Osteen**

Shiloh sat up in bed and looked around her new room. It took her all of two weeks to find an apartment and move off campus. The sight of her dorm room made her sick, and all she could think about was living there with Katie. Mr. Fritz' class was reassigned to a new faculty member so they could finish the semester off.

Pulling her blonde hair up in a messy bun, Shiloh stood up and walked into her kitchen to turn on the coffee. Rubbing her eyes, she yawned and then checked her cell phone for any new messages. There was a short text from Spencer, but it still brought a smile to her face. It had only been a couple of weeks since they last saw each other, but they still talked on the phone every day, if Spencer could. He still had to work and the BAU's schedule was constantly changing depending on where they were needed.

 _'Call me when you wake up :)'_

Shiloh read the text and poured herself a cup of coffee, drowning it with sugar, and took it into her living room. She sat down and turned on the TV with the volume on low so she could read the news headlines while she talked to Spencer.

Tucking her feet under her, she took a small sip from her steaming mug and picked up her phone again. She dialed his number and waited for him to pick up. The last she'd heard, the team was in South Carolina tracking down a serial rapist turned killer. She didn't know if he would have a chance to pick up, but she would leave him a message anyway.

"This is Reid."

"Hey Spence, it's Shiloh," Shiloh spoke softly into the phone, happy he picked up.

"Oh uh good morning. I wanted to see how you were doing," He stuttered going from confident, FBI agent Dr. Reid to shy, awkward Spencer. Shiloh couldn't help but smile at this; she liked his nerdy side.

"I'm holding up. How's the case going?" She asked softly. Spencer sighed and it was then that Shiloh noticed how tired he sounded. It was only ten in the morning, but she was sure he hadn't had much sleep the night before. Through all their phone calls, she discovered that Spencer often stayed up to the early hours of the morning pouring over different case files, absorbing all the details to try to find missing links in their investigations.

"Not good. I probably won't be back for a few more days. This guy is so unpredictable that it's taking longer than we thought to catch him." Shiloh could pick up all the papers rustling in the background and the indistinct conversations of others. He was probably at the station strategizing.

"You'll find him soon. The good guy always wins, right?" She joked with a light laugh. Spencer smiled on the other end and nodded even if she couldn't see him. He wished he could see her; just hearing her voice was already brightening his dark mood.

"Lover boy, we got a lead. Let's go!" Shiloh could hear Derek in the background.

"That's my cue. I'll call you later. I need to talk to you about the trial. Bye Shiloh."

"Bye," She whispered as he hung up. Shiloh turned her phone off and tossed it on her coffee table. The last thing she wanted to do was think about the trial. The DA wanted her to testify against Mr. Fritz so it was pretty much mandatory. If she didn't go willingly, she had no doubt they would subpoena her. But Spencer had told her that he would be there for her when it went to court. Taking a deep breath, she sipped more of her coffee and turned the TV volume up to hear what the newscasters were talking about.

 _"In other news, Matthew Fritz, a professor at The University of Quantico, who arrested two weeks ago for murdering two students and kidnapping another finally has a court date. He was denied bail last week and will be in police custody until his court hearing next week."_

Shiloh was about to change the channel but stopped when Katie's picture was placed next to Mr. Fritz's on the screen.

 _"New details are emerging everyday, and some of our reporters have gotten a few updates from local law enforcement. It's being said that Fritz was able to convince Katie Carlson, a student at the university, to kill three students herself. Carlson has been found legally insane and will be staying at Safton Mental Hospital until found otherwise."_

Shiloh swallowed the lump in her throat and turned off the TV. She felt like a coward for not going to see Katie, but she had a good reason to. Katie killed people for _her._ And that scared the shit out of her even if she tried to hide it and smile. Katie had become one of her good friends and now she's getting treatment at a mental hospital because she murdered their classmates. Shiloh didn't know what to expect from her old roommate if she showed up out of the blue to see her. She didn't even know if she was allowed to see her.

Shiloh went back into her kitchen and put her cup in the sink, not bothering to wash it out. She needed to sign up for next semester's classes at the university. She looked at her kitchen table and saw all the medical books piled high right next to her laptop and paused.

Recently, she hadn't felt like going into nursing like she planned. What if she had to see more people die like Brandon and Damien? There was so much blood, and she didn't know if she would be able to handle seeing that every day for the rest of her life. People died all the time in hospitals, not from being murdered, but they were still dying. Finally bringing herself out of that train of thought, Shiloh forced herself to move.

Picking up her medical books, she took them into her bedroom and shoved them under her bed. Out of sight, out of mind. Smiling, she went back to her laptop and signed onto the school website. She wanted to do something that she always wanted to do but thought would be a waste of her time.

The culinary arts.

Shiloh signed up for several culinary and hospitality classes and a business class so she could learn how to run her own business. She would need to go into the registrar's office to declare a change in her major, but this was a good start. Shiloh could cook and bake pretty well, but she let her parents convince her to major in nursing when she first started at the university. Now she wanted to do something for herself, hell she deserved it.

Shiloh heard her phone ringing in the living room and went to go get it. She glanced at the picture and saw her mother's face staring back at her.

"Hello?"

"Hi Honey."

"Hey, Mom. What's up?" She asked sitting down.

"I wanted to call and check on you. Are you sure you don't want to come back home for a little bit?" Shiloh told her mom about what happened the day after everything settled down. Her mom was hysterical and begged her to come back to Illinois, but she told her mom she was fine and wanted to stay put. Her dad was just as bad, but he didn't ask her to come to his new home in California.

"I'm fine Mom; I'm just signing up for my new classes that I'll take in the Spring," She said, biting her thumb nail in her nervousness.

"Oh? And what are those? Pathophysiology? Or Microbiology?" Her mom asked. She hated to disappoint her mom because all she ever wanted was for Shiloh to succeed in life, but she knew that her mom was really pushing for nursing school.

"Actually, I'm taking culinary courses." The other end of the phone was silent and for a second, Shiloh thought she dropped her call.

"Mom?"

"You're what?" She asked lowly.

"I don't want to go into healthcare anymore, Mom. I want to bake; I want to have my own store—"

"You're throwing your life away! You're so close to nursing school!" Her mom yelled on the other end of the line.

"Mother! It's my life! I've seen more death and blood than I can handle. I don't want to see that ever again!" Shiloh yelled right back, her voice catching in the back of her throat towards the end.

"Shiloh, I didn't mean to bring that u—"

"I have to go now. Talk to you later," She ended the call before her mom could say anything else. Sometimes, she just wanted to scream at her mom, but she'd regret it even more if she did that. Her mom only meant the best, but she just approaching everything the wrong way and stepped on too many toes trying to get her way.

Laying down on the couch, she closed her eyes and tried to get a cat nap in to calm her down, but her phone started ringing again. If it was her mom calling back, she wasn't going to answer it. She was surprised when she saw Spencer's name on the screen. She didn't have a picture for him yet, but she planned on getting something soon.

"Hey, I thought you guys got a lead," She said instead of saying hello.

"We did. The unsub slipped up and we were able to grab him before he got away this time. I'll be back by tonight. Do you want to meet up tomorrow so we can talk about the trial?" He asked. Shiloh rolled onto her stomach on the couch and glanced at her calendar on the wall. It was pretty much empty besides the few classes she still had.

"Yeah, sure. When and where?" She asked feeling butterflies already build up, but she tried to play it cool. The last time she saw Spencer was after Mr. Fritz got arrested. He was injured protecting her and kept comforting her while everyone else was swarming around trying to do their job.

"How about the bookstore on 7th and Main?"

"I know where that is. Is noon okay?"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

"See ya," She said with a wide smile before hanging up. Maybe today wasn't such a bad day after all. Her mom and her had a fight, but Spencer was making it up to her by taking her out tomorrow. Granted it was a book store, but going anywhere with the man was fine with Shiloh. She just wanted to spend more time with him.

Shiloh squealed and flipped back onto her back. She stared up at her ceiling with that stupid grin still playing on her lips. Thinking about the man made her stomach warm; it made her feel other things too. She wondered if he was just as shy in the bedroom or if he flipped and took control. She was curious and would be happy with either outcome. She could make him putty in her hands or let him have his way with her.

"Ugh, I need to shower," She grumbled. It'd been a while since she was in a relationship, and now that there was an attractive man in her life, she was missing that physical affection. Even if she and Spencer weren't an item, she could still fantasize.

As she walked to her bathroom she noticed how quiet the apartment was.

"I need to get an animal."

* * *

 **A/N: I know it's shorter than most. I'm rewriting this and trying to add more details. I like most of the story line so I don't want to change too much, but I'm just trying to make it better. Let me know what you think. All the feedback is amazing, and I love hearing what y'all have to say!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I am NOT a lawyer or familiar with the court system outside of what I see on TV. Please forgive me if the terms I used are not accurate or if what I wrote would not hold up in a real court of law. This is purely fictional. I also don't own Criminal Minds. That aside, please enjoy!**

* * *

 **"Justice is the constant and perpetual will to allot to every man his due." - Domitus Ulpian**

Shiloh woke up early the next morning and got dressed and ready by ten. Seeing that she had two whole hours to waste before she met up with Spencer, she decided to cook something. Cooking always calmed her down and right now she needed it.

Shiloh walked into the kitchen and grabbed her only cookbook. She wiped the dust off and opened it up to the dessert section. There was a recipe for a simple yellow cake. Smiling, she checked to make sure she had everything before she began. Grabbing her apron, she pulled it on and gathered all her ingredients. Turning on her bluetooth stereo, she put her phone on shuffle and hummed along to the song as she started.

Shiloh got so into it that she lost track of time. She was spreading chocolate icing onto the now cooled cake when her cell phone rang.

"Hello?" She asked shouldering the phone to finish her icing.

"Shiloh, where are you? It's half past twelve," Spencer said on the other end.

"Really?! I'm so sorry! I didn't even notice the time. I'll leave now!" She rushed to put her baking utensils in the sink while Spencer laughed.

"I figured that's what happened. Don't worry, I'm almost to your apartment now. See you in a minute." Shiloh rushed even more to make sure everything was picked up. She didn't bother to take off her apron or check her appearance; she was too focused on cleaning. She attempted to fold her blanket on the couch and fluff the throw pillows, but she was too flustered to make it look any better. Her doorbell rang a few minutes later, and she had to force herself to take a breath and breathe before letting him in.

"Hey Spence. Sorry about that, come in," She said, opening the door. Spencer sent her a smile and walked in.

"It smells good in here. Were you cooking?" He asked, heading for the kitchen.

"Yeah, I made a cake, hence why I didn't know what time it was," She giggled nervously, tucking some of her blonde hair behind her ear. Spencer smiled and eyed the cake hungrily.

"Sorry, I seem to have a permanent sweet tooth," He replied and looked at Shiloh before smirking.

"You have icing on your cheek," He teased. Shiloh flushed red and wiped her cheeks to try to get it off. Spencer chuckled and wiped it off for her, cleaning the icing off his finger with a paper towel.

"So… want a piece?" She asked shyly. Why did she always get so nervous around him? He's a friend now. She shouldn't be feeling like a little school girl! There was just something about him that brought out the butterflies and nerves.

"That would be great," Spencer beamed. Shiloh cut them both a piece and got the milk.

"So did you catch up on your sleep?" She asked taking a bite. They sat at her kitchen island on the barstools, slightly facing each other.

"Eh, somewhat. I got caught up reading the files for Matthew's court trial. I talked to the prosecutor this morning. He thinks he has it in the bag to get him life without parole," He explained. Shiloh nodded and stared down at her cake. Her stomach turned and she quickly lost her appetite. Spencer noticed her silence and stopped eating to look at her.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked softly.

"No, not really. The last thing I want to do is see that man again and have to talk about what he did…" She mumbled and pushed her cake away.

"Shiloh, you have nothing to worry about. I'll be there and so will Derek and the rest of the team. We'll be testifying as well."

"Spencer… I'm scared, no I'm terrified. I don't want him looking at me or talking to me." Spencer stood up and wrapped his long arms around the tiny blonde. His cheeks tinged a light pink color when she hugged him back, burying her face in his sweater vest.

"I'll make sure that he won't do anything else to you. I can't promise that he won't try to talk to you, but he can't do anything else. Promise," Spencer told her.

"Thanks, Spence. What else did you need to talk to me about?" She asked finally pulling away, and Spencer sat back down in his seat.

"The Prosecutor, Bill Jameson, said to go over the questions with you so you won't be blindsided in the court room. He'll be asking you things like if Matthew ever attempted to hurt you. Did he treat you differently than the others? What did Katie say about him? Things like that." Shiloh rubbed her temples and nodded. The interrogation began. Spencer began asking her the questions and helping her answer them in a way that the defense wouldn't be able to use against her.

 _2 days later_

"We're almost there," Spencer said as he drove them to the courthouse. Shiloh nodded and made sure her blouse was tucked into her high waist, skirt. She slipped on her black heels and waited for Spencer to park. Once he did, he walked around to her side of the car and helped her out.

As expected, the news crews were waiting for anyone involved in the trial. They took pictures and asked questions, but the pair ignored them and walked into the building. Derek was waiting for them just inside the doors.

"How was it?" He asked as they walked to their designated room.

"About as good as you would expect. They asked questions and didn't receive any answers," Spencer replied. Shiloh felt her butterflies come back, but these were the bad kind. It wasn't the same feeling she got when she knew Spencer was coming over. These were her scared butterflies. She was going to see Mr. Fritz again. The last time she saw him, he was being put in the back of a police car.

Shiloh slowly linked her arm with Spencer's as they walked. Derek and Spencer both saw this but said nothing of it. Derek knew the two were getting closer and Spencer knew Shiloh was a touchy-feely person and he was getting used to it. It made him feel needed when she reached out for him; it was a good feeling to have.

The three of them walked into the court room and took a seat in the first row behind the prosecutor where the rest of the team sat. Shiloh said hello to everyone and sat down with Spencer. She rung her hands together in nervousness.

"Just try to relax. It'll be over before you know it," Spencer whispered in her ear. She nodded and tried to do as he advised, but that was hard as soon as she saw Mr. Fritz being escorted in. He had a 5 o'clock shadow and his hair was longer. It looked like someone helped him comb it back, but it was clear he'd been in jail.

He sat down next to his lawyer and looked around. Shiloh tried to sink further into her seat, but unfortunately that didn't work and he saw her. His eyes widened and he smiled widely at her. She looked away and to Spencer.

"He keeps looking at me," She whispered in his ear. Spencer leaned down so he was close to her face.

"Look at me, Shiloh. He can't get to you and if he even tried, I wouldn't let him. He's not sane and he's delusional. After today, you'll never have to see him again," He whispered back. Shiloh nodded and smiled at him. He slipped his fingers through hers and squeezed gently. It made her feel better.

Looking back up, Shiloh saw Mr. Fritz glaring at Spencer, but she ignored him and waited for the judge to arrive. Once she got there, everything started. One by one they were all called to the stand and the FBI agents recounted what happened. When Spencer was up there, Shiloh sat closer to Derek so she wouldn't feel isolated.

"Dr. Reid, can you explain to me what happened when you found Ms. Montgomery? " Bill asked. Spencer nodded.

"I found an attic door in the lecture halls of QU and went up to investigate. I found Shiloh there and she was border line hysterical. We were about to go back down, but Matthew Fritz came up and blocked our exit—"

"This man here?" Bill asked pointing to Mr. Fritz.

"Yes, him. He became angry when he saw me with Shiloh. He then pulled out a large hunting knife and that's when I pulled out my gun. I tried to reason with him, but it was beyond that point. He just wanted Shiloh. Things got heated as we argued and when he lunged, I pushed Shiloh away and fired my gun. I shot him in the shoulder and he cut my arm," Spencer said.

"He didn't just cut you, did he? It was worse than that," Bill said.

"Yes, I had to go to the hospital and get 32 stitches in my forearm. It's still healing," he said showing his bandaged arm. Shiloh cringed and forced herself to not look at her former teacher. Once they let Spencer go, it was her turn. Everything was a blur and she gave her oath and sat down.

"Shiloh, what is your relationship like with Mr. Fritz?"

"He was my psychology teacher."

"Nothing more? Were you two having any sexual relations?" Bill asked her point blank. Shiloh forced herself to remain calm.

"No, he was just my teacher, nothing else."

"Can you tell me what happened after Katie was taken into police custody?"

"Uh, the FBI agents left and then the press showed up. I was trying to get coffee and they bombarded me. Mr. Fritz showed up and led me away from the cameras. He led me into one of the lecture halls and I thanked him. My phone rang and it was Dr. Reid calling to check up on me. I said goodbye to Mr. Fritz and answered the call. Once I hung up, I saw Mr. Fritz was still there. He told me not to talk to Dr. Reid anymore. I got angry and told him it was none of his business who I talked to…" Shiloh glanced at Mr. Fritz and saw his eyes boring into hers. She gulped and looked down at her hands.

"It's okay, Shiloh. Go on," Bill urged her. She took a deep breath and continued.

"He uh he shoved me against a wall and held me there. He said I was his and then covered my mouth with a cloth. I passed out and later I woke up in an attic. The door was locked and I couldn't get out. Mr. Fritz showed up and acted like we were at home getting ready for dinner. I convinced him to go get us dinner and while he was gone, Dr. Reid showed up. The rest happened as Dr. Reid said earlier. Mr. Fritz got mad and came at us with a knife. I was pushed away and Dr. Reid shot him in the shoulder," Shiloh explained. She didn't want to call Spencer by his first name in the court room.

"No further questions Your Honor." Bill sat down and Mr. Fritz's defense lawyer, Craig Zimmer, stood up.

"Ms. Montgomery, you said that you never had a relationship with my client, correct?"

"Yes, nothing beyond him being my teacher."

"Is it true, though, that you would go to his office once his hours were over and spend hours behind a closed door with him?" This shocked Shiloh; she didn't think they would bring that up. Her eyes darted to Spencer who made a motion to breathe.

"I did go to his office a few times after hours, yes. But I-"

"So you agree that you and my client were alone together in his office several times?"

"Yes but I wasn't the only one. Students saw him after hours all the time because the hours he posted were never accurate." Craig clicked his teeth and shook his head.

"Did you ever participate in sexual acts with my client to help your grade in his class?"

"Of course not!"

"But he did show leniency with some of your assignments. Not with other students, but just with you."

"Your Honor, where is the question?" Bill asked, standing from his own seat. The judge nodded and looked to Craig.

"Get to your question, Council."

"Yes Your Honor. Ms. Montgomery were you aware that you were the only student getting special privileges from Mr. Fritz?" Craig asked, peering into her eyes.

"I didn't know I was getting any special privileges," Shiloh answered, shortly. Craig grabbed a file and handed it to Shiloh to look at.

"Inside are several of your assignments with their original grades. Inside as well is a copy of my client's grade book. You will see that most of your grades are higher in the grade book than they were originally. Can you agree that this is what you are seeing?"

Shiloh looked at her papers, most were essays and tests she'd turned in. They weren't major increases; if she made a B, it was bumped up to a low A in the grade book. But she couldn't deny that they were in fact higher than they should have been.

"Yes, but I never asked him to do this, and I never did anything with him to coerce him to change my grades." Shiloh explained and closed the file again. Mr. Fritz leaned back in his chair and smiled at Shiloh.

"I find it hard to believe that my client would do this without your knowledge. He's been very open about his relationship with you-"

"There is no relationship. He drugged me, took me into an attic and played make believe. He confessed to killing those students because in his eyes, they wronged me." Craig's face darkened and he turned to the judge.

"Motion to strike the witness' last statement from the court. My client was under duress when he made those statements and the investigation into the murder of the other students is still active."

"Motion granted. Ms. Montgomery's last statement is so stricken and the jury will not take it into account when coming to a decision," The judge told the room. Craig nodded and looked back to Shiloh.

"No further questions, Your Honor."

Shiloh's legs were shaking when she returned to Spencer's side. He immediately wrapped a comforting arm around her and spoke soothing words in her ear. She leaned into his touch and took a few deep breaths.

"Stop touching her dammit!" The two looked up and saw Mr. Fritz standing and glaring at them. Shiloh's heart beat picked up and she held onto Spencer's arm for dear life.

"Order!" The judge yelled. Mr. Fritz's lawyer rested a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off.

"Shiloh's mine. Get your filthy hands off her or so help me, I'll make you regret it," He hissed at Spencer. Spencer remained silent and just watched him closely. This pissed him off even more and he tried to walk over to them, but the police guards stopped him and made him sit back down.

"Order in my court room! Mr. Zimmer, get your client under control or I will have him escorted back to a holding cell!" The judge yelled and slammed her hammer down. Craig got Mr. Fritz to calm down and stay in his seat, but his eyes never left Shiloh and Spencer.

"I think that's enough for today. We will reconvene in two days. Courtroom is dismissed."


	10. Chapter 10

**"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." - Elizabeth Stone**

"So you're going to go to culinary school now?" Spencer asked from his seat on Shiloh's barstool. He had his elbows on the counter and was resting his chin in his hands.

"Yup, I want to open a bakery," Shiloh smiled and turned to the oven when she heard it ding. Spencer smiled softly as he watched the girl he was developing feelings for. Shiloh beamed when she found her cupcakes looked really good. She set them on the cooling rack and turned to Spencer again.

"When I told my mom, she flipped her lid and got mad," Shiloh mumbled and sat down next to him on the other barstool. Spencer sat up and nodded. "That's to be expected. If your child tells you that they're not going to med school or nursing school all of a sudden and wanting to do something else completely different, wouldn't you be worried that they're making a mistake based on too many emotions?" Spencer asked. Shiloh thought about it and sighed, slumping in her seat.

"Why are you so smart?" She grumbled making Spencer smirk.

"It's a blessing and a curse," Spencer tried to joke. Shiloh laughed softly at the professional nerd and smiled at him. She placed her hand over his and looked at their fingers as they intertwined. She didn't know what she meant to Spencer, but their relationship, whatever it was, was slowly progressing. Maybe they were just close friends, or soon to be lovers. She wasn't sure and she could bet money that Spencer wasn't sure either.

"Do you want to kiss me?" She asked softly and looked up from their hands. Spencer blushed furiously, completely thrown off guard by her blunt question. He suddenly couldn't form a witty comment like before so he opted to caressing her face with his free hand, eyes focusing intently on her pink lips. Shiloh's blinked slowly, waiting to see if Spencer would actually make a move to close the space between them.

Spencer's stomach was flip flopping all over the place, but he forced himself to man up and he leaned forward. Shiloh was surprised at his sudden confidence, but she didn't let it go to waste. She leaned in as well, but just before their lips met, someone started banging on her front door.

"Shiloh Adele! Open this door right now!" The two jumped apart from each other and Shiloh held back a curse. Spencer was too busy trying to control the redness of his face and figure out who was at the door to notice her unease.

"Listen to your mother and open the door. We know you're in there." Shiloh heard her father as well and dreaded what she knew was going to come as soon as she let the pair into her home.

"Lord help me… It's my parents," She whispered and stood to answer the door. Spencer didn't know much about them other than what Mr. Fritz said about them. That they were divorced and she went to see her mother more. All that aside, this is not how he wanted to meet her parents. Shiloh slowly opened the door to see her parents standing there with unreadable expressions on their faces.

"Are you going to let us in, or are we going to stand here all day?" Her mom snapped. Shiloh moved aside and allowed her parents into her still new apartment. Spencer saw them come around the corner and into the living room and kitchen area. When they saw him, he slowly stood from the barstool, not quite sure what Shiloh expected him to do in this situation.

"Mom, Dad, this is Dr. Spencer Reid. I didn't know you guys were coming or I wouldn't have made any plans," Shiloh said. Her parents eyed the man in their daughter's kitchen carefully.

"You're that boy from the trial," Her mother said giving him another once over. Shiloh wanted to roll her eyes at her mother's lack of finesse, but she held back for the sake of not wanting to start an argument in front of Spencer.

"Ah, yes. I'm an FBI agent and I escorted Shiloh to and from the trial," Spencer said politely. Shiloh smiled at his effort to please her parents, but it took a lot to please her mother in general so she wasn't surprised when her mother continued with her interrogation.

"Yet that doesn't explain why you're here—"

"Mom, Spencer is the one who found and saved me from Mr. Fritz. I invited him over and made cupcakes as a thank you," Shiloh filled in and gestured over to the still cooling desserts. Her mother wrinkled her nose and looked up at her ex-husband for help.

"I was going to call you, but your mother wanted it to be a surprise. Sorry for the intrusion. I'm Nick, and this is my ex-wife, Anita," Nick held out his hand to Spencer who took it firmly in his.

"That's a good handshake you got there," Nick smiled.

"Thank you, it comes in handy when dealing with unhelpful suspects," Spencer replied lowly. Nick raised his eyebrows wanting Spencer to elaborate.

"I work with the behavior analysis unit in the FBI and we specialize in serial killings or out of the ordinary murders. My unit chief gave me a lesson on handshakes," Spencer said thinking about Hotch. He was the one who told him not to get too close to Shiloh, but that was hopeless now.

"Well I appreciate everything you have done for my daughter. You're obviously good at what you do," Nick said. Spencer's lips curved slightly at the compliment.

"How are you, honey?" Anita gushed and cupped her daughter's face with her ring covered hands.

"I'm fine, Mom. Everything's over now and I'm working on my schooling now." Anita's hands dropped and her face became stern in a second's time. The picture of a concerned, nurturing mother suddenly gone and replaced with a drill sergeant.

"About that. I talked to your father about your sudden change. We both think you should reconsider your decision. You've spent so many years studying nursing. It would be a waste to throw all of that away now," Her mother tried to reason with her. Shiloh looked over at her dad and saw him shrug his shoulders a bit behind her mother's back. He was much more laid back than Anita was, and Shiloh knew he would support her no matter what she chose. It just seemed like her mother dragged him along in her scheme to talk Shiloh out of the major change.

Shiloh remembered what Spencer said and tried to put herself in her mother's shoes. Yes, she had spent the majority of her college education on healthcare, but now she just didn't feel happy pursuing it anymore. Who wants to have a job for the rest of their life that they aren't satisfied with?

"Mom, this whole thing with Mr. Fritz opened my eyes. I don't want to deal with blood or sickness or anything dealing with the human body. You need to understand that now it just gives me bad memories. Cooking makes me happy—"

"Cooking won't get you anywhere in life! Have you even thought about how you'll make a living selling cupcakes?!" Anita scolded. Spencer appeared by Shiloh's side and rested a hand on her shoulder to soothe her. He could tell that her mother was upsetting her.

"Anita, you need to—"

"Not now Nicholas! Don't be stupid, Shiloh. You're throwing your life away," Her mother continued, unaware of how upset she was making her daughter. Spencer watched Shiloh's fists curl into balls.

"She's just worrying about you," He whispered to her softly. Shiloh looked up at him, tears beginning to well and her face flushed.

"Young lady, look at me when I'm talking to you—"

"Stop it already! I was almost killed and the only thing you care about is how much money I'll make in the future. I could care less right now! Don't you realize how close you were to losing me?! If it weren't for Spencer, I would be dead! **Dead** , Mom! Why can't you understand how much this has hurt me?" Shiloh cried. Spencer gently pulled her into his chest where she cried softly into his shirt.

"Shiloh… I— I'm sorry, I just…" Her mother stumbled over her words. Nick rested a hand on her shoulder and shook his head softly.

"This whole thing has upset Shiloh greatly. I've been checking up on her every day to make sure she's okay, but right now I think taking up cooking isn't such a bad idea. It will help her cope with her emotions," Spencer explained. Anita watched the two with a critical eye. Something was going on between them and it was more than what they were saying, but she was too scared of pushing Shiloh further away to bring it up.

"Anita, I think Dr. Reid is right. Maybe cooking will help Shiloh," Nick put his two cents in.

"I just don't want her to make a huge mistake," Anita mumbled still watching her daughter cling to the young doctor's button up.

"Mom, let me make mistakes and learn from them. I'm old enough now to take responsibility for my actions," Shiloh said boldly turning to face her mother. There was a reason why she visited her mother more than her father. Her mother had such high expectations for Shiloh that she didn't want to disappoint Anita by not meeting them. She went to nursing school because her mother recommended it, and she spends most of her holidays with her because she knows her mother is all alone. Her father has another wife now and he's happy. It's not that she doesn't love her father, no, she used to be a daddy's girl, but she knows that her mother needs her more. But enough is enough. It's time for Shiloh to draw the line somewhere.

"Honey…"

"Mom, listen to me. I have done everything I can to try and please you, but now it's my turn to be happy. And I'm not going to settle for anything less than my happiness. I'm sorry," She whispered the last part. Anita blinked and looked away trying to hold back her tears. She knew that her daughter was grown up, but she didn't want to admit it.

"Shiloh, I love you so much, but you're right. It's time for me to let go and let you live your own life. Well, your father and I will be here for two more days. We're staying at a hotel nearby. Call me so we can plan something together," Anita said kissing her daughter's cheek and bolting out the door.

"Dad?" Shiloh asked, turning to her father for answers about her mother's behavior.

"It's okay, Honey. Your mother understands. We'll see you later. Take care of my baby, Dr. Reid," Nick said kissing Shiloh's forehead and leaving after Anita. Once the front door closed, Shiloh turned around slowly and faced Spencer.

"Oh my God," She mumbled and let her head drop onto Spencer's covered chest. He chuckled and pushed her back gently to look at her.

"That wasn't so bad. At least now you and your mom can talk more openly," He added. Shiloh smiled and looked up at the man who was beginning to mean so much to her.

"Thanks, Spence," She whispered and stood up on her toes just enough to press her soft lips against his.

* * *

 **A/N: Kind of a shorter chapter just to introduce Shiloh's parents so y'all can see the people who raised her. Also so you can see how her mother acts. These two will be popping up again later in the story along with Nick's new wife and her kids. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think about the latest chapter! I love hearing from you all!**


	11. Chapter 11

**"Unwanted attention comes with the territory..." -Anonymous**

 _Air-force base 82 | 11:15am_

"Where's Lauren now? ...Emily now?" The man asked calmly as he got off his plane.

"Currently, she's at the BAU office inside the FBI headquarters. She should be leaving at 5 pm to go home," The second man answered the first as they walked along the tarmac.

"I want someone following each member on her team. Emily will pay for what she did to me; she will suffer the way that I suffered."

* * *

"Have a good flight, Mom. I'll talk to you later this week," Shiloh said hugging her mother goodbye. Her dad had left earlier that morning and was probably close to landing in LAX.

"You won't be too lonely will you? You can always come with me; we can send a little time together."

"Mom, I'll be fine. I'm having lunch with Spencer in a little bit. Don't worry about me," She assured her mother with a small smile.

"Do you like this Spencer boy?" Her mother asked, a certain gleam in her eye.

"Well… Kinda yeah," Shiloh said feeling awkward. She and her mother were never the duo to normally talk about boys and feelings.

"Just be careful, okay. He has a dangerous job and I worry about you."

"Mom, I'll be fine, promise. Go, don't miss your flight," Shiloh tried shooing her mom away. Anita hesitated but finally gave in.

"Okay, but check in with me every now and then. Love you!" Anita called as she walked away with her carry on. Shiloh smiled and waved goodbye before walking out of the airport and back to her car. Once she got in, her phone started ringing.

"Hey Spence," She said happily.

"Hey Shiloh, I'm on my way to the café. I got held up a bit at the office," He said on the other line.

"It's fine, I just dropped my mom off so I'll be there in a little bit too," She replied and pulled out of the airport's confusing terminals.

"Good, I didn't want you to be waiting for me," Spencer mumbled. Shiloh laughed lightly and said she would see him soon before hanging up and driving to the café that they were meeting at for lunch.

* * *

Spencer stood up from his chair and grabbed his shoulder bag, throwing the strap on his left shoulder. Emily and Derek looked up from their paper work in confusion.

"Wonder boy, where're you going?" Derek asked setting his pen down. Spencer checked his watch and looked back at his best friend.

"It's noon. I'm going to lunch."

"But you always eat lunch here," Emily said looking at him oddly, leaning back in her chair to study him.

"Well, today I'm going out," Spencer said grabbing his cell phone. Derek and Emily gave each other a knowing look.

"Tell Shiloh we said hi," Emily grinned. Spencer suppressed an oncoming blush and stammered a reply.

"I'll be back later," He mumbled and walked to the elevators ignoring their snickering behind him. He pulled out his phone and called Shiloh to make sure she wasn't waiting on him. Not wanting to drive, Spencer hailed the nearest taxi and told the driver where to go.

Every time Spencer thought about a certain blonde, his stomach turned and their kiss popped up in his mind. It felt so right to be with her and for once, Spencer felt like he could relax more around her. The team was his family, but work was always on their mind. Shiloh was different, she made him forget about work, and he loved that about her.

The taxi pulled up at the café and he handed the driver money before getting out. The cold November air chilled his bones and he regretted not grabbing a thicker jacket before leaving the BAU. Walking inside, he saw that Shiloh wasn't there yet so he grabbed them a booth near the back.

It wasn't long before Shiloh came rushing in, her cheeks flushed a little and her nose red from the cold. Even then, Spencer thought she was beautiful.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. My mom didn't want to leave. Did you wait long?" She asked sitting down in front of him. She set her purse down and slipped her jacket off.

"No I just got here," He said. Shiloh smiled at the man in front of her and picked up the menu.

"Do you know what you want?" She asked, "Salami sounds good."

"Did you know that during the 17th century, salami was popular among Southern European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for up to 10 years… Ah sorry, I ramble. Salami sounds good," Spencer apologized meekly.

"No I like it when you talk. I usually learn something new," Shiloh sent him a warm smile and then the waiter walked up to their table. Butterflies were swarming in Spencer's stomach but he forced them down and looked at the waiter.

"Welcome to the Lunar Café. I'm your waiter, Carson. Can I get you anything to drink?" He asked and looked up from his note pad. Spencer analyzed the way he looked Shiloh up and down and for once cursed his ability to profile so well. The boy was interested in Shiloh and it was making Spencer boil inside. He and Shiloh weren't an item, but he didn't want other guys ogling her.

"Um, I'll have a peach tea. What about you, Spence?" Shiloh asked smiling at the profiler sweetly. The jealousy calmed down a little, but he was still peeved.

"Ice water is fine."

"Do you know what you'd like to order or do you need a few more minutes?" The waiter asked, focusing on Shiloh.

"Two salami sandwiches, right?" Shiloh asked, glancing at Spencer. He nodded and grinned seeing that she was trying to subtly get the waiter to back off. The waiter took their menus and winked at Shiloh before leaving.

"Could he have been any more obvious?" Shiloh grumbled under her breath. Spencer chuckled and leaned back in his chair.

"It was more than obvious. He'll probably come back here several times to check and see 'how we're doing' because he wants to get your attention. I bet he'll give you his number before we leave," Spencer added.

"No way! You're on," Shiloh smiled widely and accepted the challenge. She should have known better when she was going up against someone whose job is to know how people behave.

"So what happened at work that held you up?" Shiloh asked.

"It was just Derek and Emily bugging me. They thought it was weird that I was leaving for lunch. I usually pack a lunch and eat there with them. They say hi by the way," He explained.

"Your friends sound nice. I've only met Derek briefly, but he really helped me out during the trial."

"That's Derek for you. He cares more about others than himself," Spencer explained.

"Why is he still single then? Commitment issues?" Shiloh asked, catching Spencer by surprise.

"Why uh do you think he's single?" Shiloh just shrugged and leaned forward on the table. "He never brings up a girl, he dresses like a bachelor, and he's probably the most flirtatious man I've ever met." Spencer laughed at that.

"Yeah he's single. Derek likes to play the field, and I just think he hasn't found the right girl yet to make him settle down."

"Well good luck to whoever that will be. She'll need it," Shiloh commented just as Carson came back with their drinks.

"Here's your peach tea," He smirked at Shiloh and just set Spencer's water in front of him.

"So do you come here often?" He asked coyly.

"Uh, no this is my first time here."

"No wonder. I would have remembered you. Let me know if you need anything," He smirked again and walked away.

"I think you're right," Shiloh mumbled not liking the fact that she'd lose the bet soon. A light bulb flashed in her head and she smiled evilly at Spencer.

"I've got an idea! Be my boyfriend, just for now. Please!" Shiloh grabbed his hands across the table and gave him the biggest puppy eyes he'd ever seen. How could he say no to her when he wanted that to be true anyway?

"O-Okay," He stuttered a little. Shiloh grinned and squeezed his hands.

"I can't wait to see the look on _Carson's_ face," She said lowly. The two talked a little while more before Carson came back with their sandwiches. He didn't stay very long because Spencer was holding Shiloh's hand on top of the table, but he still had the nerve to wink at her again.

"We need to do something more drastic so that it gets through his thick skull," Shiloh said once he left. Spencer smiled at her antics and it made him feel better that she wasn't interested in the brute that was obviously trying to get in her pants.

"So, Dr. Reid, what do you do in your free time?" Shiloh asked and took a bite of her sandwich.

"I read… and do more work. I'm pretty boring," He tried to laugh at himself.

"I like reading too. All I did was study for these last few months so I know what you mean. There's this little book shop near my apartment that you might like. We should go," She smiled at Spencer softly. Spencer nodded and took a deep breath to steady himself so he could reply.

"I was wanting to ask you, but do you want to come over for dinner tonight?" He blurted before he chickened out.

"I'd like that a lot," Shiloh said instantly and bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from smiling too much. Just being with Spencer made her feel giddy.

"Is everything tasting alright so far?" Carson asked appearing next to them. Shiloh laced her fingers with Spencer's and smiled.

"It's good, right Babe?" She said looking at Spencer.

"Mmhmm, it's good," He said quietly. Carson's smirk slipped a little, but he fixed it and left again.

"Not good enough. He still doesn't get it…"

"Don't worry, I know what to do," Spencer said coming up with the best idea yet. They continued to eat and chat until Carson came back again with their bill. Spencer pulled out his wallet while Shiloh looked at the bill.

"He left his number," She said sadly. Spencer won the bet… Spencer chuckled and took the black book from her with the check in it.

"I've got this," He smirked and placed a twenty inside leaving the number inside too. Carson came back as Spencer was getting up with Shiloh. She was putting on her coat and watched as Spencer handed to the bill to Carson.

"She's not interested, Buddy. Keep the change," Spencer patted Carson's shoulder and then wrapped an arm around Shiloh as they walked out of the café.

"That was amazing! Did you see his face?" She laughed and wrapped an arm around him as well.

"I am pretty good," Spencer boasted.

"Don't get a big head, Spence," She joked with him. "Did you drive here?" She asked looking for his car.

"No I took a cab. I don't really like driving."

"C'mon, my car is this way," Shiloh smiled and pulled him along with her. Spencer laughed and let her lead him to her car.

"The BAU is close, right?" She asked as she started her car and turned on the heaters.

"Yeah, just down the street and to the left," He told her which way to go and it wasn't long before they were just outside the front doors.

"Thanks for the lift. I had a good time," Spencer said getting out and shutting the door. Shiloh rolled down her window and called him over to her side. Shiloh grabbed his tie and pulled him down so he was closer. They both leaned in and kissed each other softly. Shiloh pulled back and smiled at him.

"See you tonight, Dr. Reid."

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the wait! I've been picking up extras at work because I really want to go on vacation! Enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think. This one is kind of a filler but enjoy it anyway!**


	12. Chapter 12

**"** **Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies." –Jane Austen**

Spencer walked back into the bullpen with a silly grin on his face. He wasn't paying much attention to anything else around him; all he could think about was how he had a great time with Shiloh and the quick kiss they just shared in the parking lot.

Spencer took his bag off his shoulder and draped it over his chair before sitting down at his desk to get back to his paper work. Emily and Derek trained their eyes on him and watched him get comfortable in his chair. He didn't even say hello to them when he came back; it was unusual for him. Derek finally tried to get hi attention, but Spencer was in La La Land.

"Yo, Reid! I've been calling your name forever, man. Did you space out there?" Derek asked sitting down on the edge of Spencer's desk. Spencer snapped out of his trance and looked up at his muscular friend with a blank face.

"Was I? Sorry, just got lost in my thoughts for a second," Spencer mumbled not wanting to tell Derek about the kiss. They may be best friends, but he didn't want to tell him about his budding relationship with Shiloh just yet. Things were too new, and he wanted to make sure it was going somewhere before other people found out; especially the people he worked with.

"Yeah, were you too busy thinking about a certain blonde?" Before Spencer could retort, a livid Penelope came running around the corner. Her newly re-dyed blonde hair was crimped and pulled up in three pony tails while she was sporting her usual colorful clothes. She stomped over to a confused Spencer and dragged him back to her office. The team ran after them with the exception of Hotchner. He simply shook his head and walked back into his office.

"Ow, Garcia, what's wrong?" Spencer asked trying to free his arm of her death grip.

"Sit down! Do you know what I just saw as I happened to be 'spying' on FBI personnel?" She asked using air quotes around spying because Hotchner always tells her to stay away from the FBI's security cameras.

"Uh no?" He questioned. The team looked on from the doorway, too uncomfortable to get involved. Penelope could intimidate them all when she was this upset.

"I see this!" She angrily hits enter on her keyboard and brings up video surveillance of the parking lot. Spencer's stomach drops as he watches his kiss with Shiloh that happened less than ten minutes ago. Spencer lowers his head and slowly stands up. Penelope moves out of his way as he walks to the computer and turns the video off.

"Spencer, she took advantage of you right outside our doors," Penelope mumbled, her anger quickly fading when she saw how upset she made Spencer.

"She didn't take advantage of anyone, Penelope. And I don't see why it matters to you or anyone else. I don't want everyone to know what happens in my personal life. And if I did, then I would tell you that that wasn't the first time we kissed! I'm tired of everyone treating me like a child, I'm 28 if you haven't noticed!" Spencer shoved past the team and angrily walked back to his desk.

Derek looked over at his baby girl and gave her a sad smile.

"I was only looking out for him…"

"I know, Baby girl. He just needs some space. He's right though. We treat him like a little kid sometimes. He needs to get out there and experience life for himself."

* * *

Shiloh smoothed her shirt once more while looking in the mirror. Butterflies were swarming in her stomach. She got nervous every time she thought about going over to Spencer's place. He said he recently moved into a small bungalow type house fifteen minutes away.

Shiloh checked her teeth and grabbed her keys to go. The cold air nipped at her nose as she walked to her car.

Slowing down her pace, Shiloh glanced around the empty street. She got the odd feeling someone was watching her, but no one else was around. She pushed the feeling away and pulled her jacket on tighter as she jogged to her car. She blasted the heat once she got in and began the short drive to Spencer's.

The drive didn't take as long as Shiloh expected and soon she was walking up to his front door. The porch light was on and Shiloh looked to her right and saw a cute front porch swing swaying in the winter breeze. Shiloh rang the doorbell and waited for Spencer to open the door. There was fumbling on the other side before Spencer pulled the door open in a rush.

"Hey! Come in," He said quickly and shut the door behind her. Shiloh sighed in relief once the heat enveloped her. She glanced in his living room and saw a fire blazing in the stone fireplace.

"So, I hope you give me brownie points for trying to cook." Shiloh raised her eyebrow at Spencer's comment.

"What did you do?" She asked softly, amusement coating her voice. Spencer held back a blush that threatened to cover his face and led Shiloh into his kitchen. There were pans of burnt food on the stove and it smelled like smoke in there.

"I obviously wouldn't feed you that so I hope you don't mind Chinese take out," Spencer mumbled. Shiloh grinned and pecked his cheek to reassure him it was fine.

"I love take out. What did you get?" She asked taking one of his hands in hers.

"Uh almost everything on the menu." Shiloh laughed and walked with him into the living room. Shiloh took off her jacket and Spencer put it up in his coat closet. He rejoined her and showed her the bags of take out he bought.

"You weren't joking," She whispered taking out all the boxes. Spencer smiled shyly and laid a blanket down in front of the fire so they could eat next to the warmth. Shiloh handed him a box of food and a pair of chopsticks. He stared at the thin pieces of wood before opting for a plastic fork.

"You don't use chopsticks?" Shiloh asked, popping a piece of orange chicken into her mouth with hers.

"I find it much easier to stab my food," He joked. The two ate the food before picking up the conversation again.

"So did anything interesting happen at work after lunch?" She asked. Spencer inwardly groaned, but he still told her. He didn't want to keep something from her and then regret it later. You can't build a relationship on secrets. And that's what he wanted with her eventually; a relationship. Spencer sighed and set his take out box down to tell her.

"Well, our tech analyst decided to spy on us with the parking lot cameras and then we had a disagreement because she likes to treat me like a little kid. Honestly, I couldn't wait to get out of there," He grumbled, stabbing a piece of beef.

"I'm sorry. Hopefully you two will resolve things soon. I'm sure she was only worried about you; I am a stranger that's suddenly come into your life. She just really cares about you," Shiloh said placing her hand on top of his. Spencer returned her smile and then the two cleaned up their food once they were done.

"You're going to have so many leftovers," Shiloh laughed as she put more white boxes in Spencer's fridge.

"You'll just have to come over more to eat them!" He remarked with a grin. They walked back into the living room and that was when Shiloh noticed his impressive book collection. There was a large bookcase that almost took up an entire wall. Books were littered all over it; there were too many to count.

"What kind of books do you have?" She asked walking over to look at them.

"Uh, I have a little of everything. I'll read just about anything," He chuckled and watched Shiloh run her fingers along the spines of a few of his books. Spencer was overcome with an indescribable feeling. Without thinking, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her backwards into his chest softly.

"Spencer?" The feeling of his arms around her made Shiloh feel giddy. Her heart was thumping erratically and she hoped he couldn't hear it. Spencer grinned and looked out the window.

"It's snowing outside," He whispered against her ear.

"Snowing?" Shiloh was pulled out of her trance and panicked for a second.

"Is it bad? I hope the roads don't ice over; traffic will be horrible going home," She grumbled and leaned back into Spencer. The profiler studied the girl in front of him. The snow was coming down hard and the roads would most likely get closed off.

"Shiloh, you can stay the night if the roads get shut down," He answered quietly. He swallowed the nervous lump in his throat and waited for her answer. Shiloh pulled away from him and turned around the face him; her hands resting lightly on his chest.

"Spend the night?" She asked and glanced at the clock. It was pretty late and she didn't really want to drive all the way home, but would spending the night be taking things too fast? She didn't want to make things awkward between them.

"Yeah, just spend the night. I don't want you on the roads with bad drivers," He whispered, tucking a piece of blonde hair behind her ear. Shiloh blushed lightly and seemed to have lost her voice. She subtly nodded her head and reached for Spencer's hand. He gripped it tightly and led her into his room.

"I think I have some clothes that may fit you. I was pretty scrawny in college," He joked and released her hand to open his dresser. He pulled out a small pair of sweatpants and then an old Harvard shirt. Shiloh thanked him and went into the adjoining bathroom to change her clothes. She needed to get a hold of her nerves. Nothing was going to happen, they were only going to be sleeping in the same bed.

* * *

"Boss, we found something that you may want to see." The man said holding up a manila folder. Ian slowly turned around in his chair and held his hand out to take the folder. He opened it and dumped the contents on his desk. Inside were several pictures of the members of Emily's team. He grinned evilly and picked through them.

"I've found the first targets," he said and held up a picture. It was taken from outside Spencer's house. He had his arms wrapped around Shiloh while they stood in his living room.

"Emily took away my son so I will take away her family," Ian hissed under his breath and handed his henchman the picture.

"Tell the others of the plan." The man nodded and hurried out of the room. Ian turned to another man and beckoned him over.

"I want you to look into the girl. Find out where she lives, what she does for a living, and who she sees. Keep a tail on her 24/7," Ian explained to the man. He nodded and pulled out his phone to make a few calls on his way out of the office.

Ian dug his blunt nails into the desk in front of him and thought of Emily. The woman who ruined his life and stole his pride and joy away from him. He would make her pay for every second Declan was away from him.

* * *

 **A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Sorry it took a couple of months to get this out. I hope all the mommas of the world had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday!**


	13. Chapter 13

**"** **Sometimes your nearness takes my breath away;  
and all the things I want to say can find no voice.  
Then, in silence, I can only hope my eyes will speak my heart."  
-Robert Sexton**

Shiloh woke up with the feeling of Spencer's arms wrapped around her from behind. She was warm and cozy; the last thing she wanted to do was get up. Shiloh slowly turned around in Spencer's hold so she could face him. He was fast asleep with his mouth slightly open, softly snoring. He looked so normal and relaxed, not like how tense he can sometimes get.

Shiloh glanced up at his closed eyes before slowly leaning forward and softly pressing her lips to his. Spencer unconsciously kissed her back, seeking her lips which caused her to giggle. The sound made Spencer move and slowly open his eyes only to blink owlishly at her. He pulled back and grinned still sleep dazed and waking up.

"That's a nice way to wake up," He whispered and pulled her body closer to his, trying to stay in the warmth they created between themselves. His lack of sleep seemed to give him an extra boost of confidence and he was much more lax with his affections. Spencer glanced over his shoulder at the clock on his nightstand. The bright green numbers read 6:21. He groaned and buried his head in the crook of Shiloh's neck, sending shivers down her spine.

"I don't want to go to work," He grumbled. His warm breath tickled Shiloh's neck, acutely hitting the sensitive areas on her skin.

"I don't feel like going to class," She replied with a grin, forcing herself not to think about how close he was. Spencer looked up at her with a knowing look.

"Sick day?" He questioned already reaching for his phone. Shiloh nodded and watched Spencer call in. He'd never called in a day before in his life, but there was no time like the present to do new things. Especially if it meant getting to spend more time with the woman currently in his bed with him.

"Hey Morgan, it's me."

"No, I wanted to let you know that I'm not coming in today. I came down with some kind of stomach bug; not pretty," He said faking sick. Shiloh could barely hear the man on the other end.

"No, you don't have to come over. I'm just going to try to sleep it off. Tell Hotch for me, okay?" He asked. The two of them said goodbye and Shiloh watched Spencer toss his phone back on the nightstand.

"Should we go back to sleep now?" He asked with a yawn. Shiloh simply nodded and cuddled back into his warm chest so she could go back to sleep.

When Spencer woke up again, he saw that he had slept for three more hours since calling in sick. He reached out for Shiloh but found her side of the bed empty. Jerking into a sitting position, he looked around the room but she was nowhere to be found. Spencer threw the covers off him and bolted out of his room looking for the blonde.

"Shiloh?" He called into his house. Instantly his mind filled with the worst scenarios; his home had been broken into and she'd been taking, some psycho killed her because he had a thing for blondes, or that she suddenly wanted nothing to do with him and left his bed as fast as she could.

"In here!" Spencer jerked his head to the side and sighed in relief. He followed her voice into the kitchen where he found her cooking something on the stove. The mess he had made last night was now cleaned up and his kitchen looked organized.

"Did you clean?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I wanted to cook something, but there were pots and pans covering the stove. Once I started washing them, I ended up cleaning everything," She laughed and moved back so Spencer could see what she was cooking.

"Omelets? You know, they originated with one of the first civilizations; Mesopotamia which was in the Ancient Near East. A.k.a. the Middle East. It's one of the oldest dishes around," Spencer explained as he looked at the folded eggs in the frying pan.

"There's my Spencer," Shiloh laughed and grabbed two plates. Spencer flushed a light pink, but he liked that she was referring to him as hers. She moved the omelets onto their plates and added freshly chopped vegetables on top.

"Bon appetite!" Spencer led Shiloh over to his kitchen island and they sat on the bar stools to eat.

"So are you missing anything important at work today?" Shiloh asked.

"No, we just closed a case a few days ago so we have a break until the next one. Unless something major comes up, we won't be leaving until next week," Spencer said after he swallowed his bite. Spencer lost himself in thought and was only pulled out of it by Shiloh's sweet voice.

"Spence, are you done?" She asked, reaching for his plate. Spencer looked down and saw that he had eaten all the food.

"Oh uh yeah. Here let me help with the dishes. You cleaned up my mess after all," He smiled and felt the butterflies reappearing as they washed the plates together. Shiloh scrubbed them with soapy water and Spencer dried them and put them away. It felt so domesticated, so natural. He'd been wanting to ask Shiloh something for a while now, but he can't ever make himself man up enough to ask it.

"It's gotten chilly. Look how thick the snow is," Shiloh said rubbing her arms while looking out at the deep snow outside the kitchen window.

"I'll go start a fire," Spencer said and lit a fire in the fireplace. Shiloh grabbed a blanket off the couch and wrapped it around herself when she sat down. Spencer chuckled at her before moving her forward a little so he could sit behind her. Shiloh yawned and leaned back against his chest. Spencer turned on the news but kept the volume low enough that they could still talk.

"Shiloh, there's something that I want to ask you," Spencer said softly in her ear as he rested his chin on her shoulder. This was it; he had to do it. It was now or never.

"Hm?" She hummed, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. Spencer gulped before continuing.

"I uh I was wondering if you would l-like to be my girlfriend. Like officially… but you don't have to if you don't want to. I mean we've only been seeing each other for a few weeks and I'm not even sure if those have been considered dates. Do we need to go on more dates before we become offi—" Spencer was finally cut off when Shiloh kissed him gently.

"Spence, I would love to be your girlfriend," She smiled at him. Spencer was hypnotized by her, but he managed to shake it off and sigh in relief. He tightened his arms around her slender figure and pulled her closer.

"You make me so nervous," He mumbled and kissed her shoulder.

"I hope that's a good thing," Shiloh laughed lightly.

"It most definitely is," Spencer said kissing her again and muting the TV so they wouldn't have any distractions. But by doing that, they missed out on the urgent bulletin that came on. The FBI was being pulled into a new case in Quantico. There have already been two murders…

* * *

"JJ, are you sure about this?" Hotchner asked, looking at the blonde. She nodded and handed her boss the folder.

"The two victims were killed with the same MO and notes were left behind at the scenes. Both were very broad, but the main message was that revenge was their main goal," JJ explained.

"Call everyone to the meeting room." JJ nodded and walked out of the office before rethinking it and going back to see Hotch.

"What about Reid? He's out sick today."

"We can fill him in tomorrow but give him a call and let him know what's going on," He replied and started gathering his things. JJ nodded and went to gather everyone else. She walked over to the railing that overlooked the bullpen.

"Meeting in five," She announced and went to set up the room.

Derek looked over at Emily who just shrugged her shoulders and grabbed her phone before walking with him to the meeting room. Rossi met up with them.

"We already have another case? That was faster than usual," Emily commented as they walked. Rossi and Derek nodded.

"Yeah and Boy Wonder is missing it. He better get over his stomach bug by tomorrow. We need him here," Derek said. Penelope rushed past them and urged them forward.

"C'mon guys, this is a pretty important one!" She said and went into the room to set up the iPads with the case information. JJ was on the phone when the rest of the team walked in.

"No, Spence, it's fine. We're only going over information today and setting up at the police station. You'll have plenty of time to catch up tomorrow once you're better. Yes I'm sure, see you tomorrow," JJ laughed a little and hung up. Derek was going to text Spencer about the new case but it looked like JJ beat him to that.

"Okay guys, we have a big problem," JJ said gravely once everyone was seated and waiting with their iPads.

"We have limited information, but this is what we have. Two men who worked covert operations were killed recently. Their names were Jeremy Wolff and Sean McCallister. The higher ups won't give us any specifics on their past missions but we know that they worked in a team for most of them. The CIA is also looking into this, but we have been asked to step in and try to profile their killer before they attack any more covert agents. The unsub obviously knows what they do for a living, and he was able to kill both men here in Quantico." JJ kept filling them in and showed pictures of the victims.

Emily felt like throwing up. Her body tensed and she slowly looked down at her phone. She went to her recent text messages and opened one from yesterday.

 _'Emily, it's really important that we meet soon. Something is going down and it looks bad. Call me as soon as you can. –Sean'_

Emily closed her eyes slowly and tried to get a hold of her emotions before the team noticed something was off. They were some of the best profilers in the country for a reason. She took a calming breath and left the room with everyone else.

"Hey, Prentiss. Are you staying here or heading to the station to set up?" Derek asked as he grabbed his wallet to stick it in his pocket.

"I'm gonna stay here a while longer and look over the case again. I'll try to come up with something and meet you there later," She answered and chewed on the end of her thumb. She noticed Derek's suspicious look and slowly dropped her hand and smiled at him.

"Okay, I'll call you later," He said and left with Rossi and Hotch. JJ stayed behind along with Penelope to get a headstart on the case. Emily wanted to focus, but all she could think about was how Sean and Jeremy were now dead. She needed to call Tsia. There was only one man out there that could want to kill her old team mates. Ian Doyle.


End file.
